When Worlds Collide
by andrewjameswilliams
Summary: Voyager/EFC Crossover. Voyager answers a distress call from an unknown alien ship leading them to discover a forgotten past. Chapters 14 + 15 up. *Story Complete*
1. Chapter 1

**When Worlds Collide**

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Note: Takes place shortly after the _Voyager season seven episode Drive._

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Chapter One 

It had been a quiet couple of weeks aboard the Federation starship _Voyager as she glided at warp speed through the Delta Quadrant on her undeviating course back to the Alpha Quadrant._

At first the crew of _Voyager had enjoyed the peace and quiet.  It had given them chance to overhaul those systems that were past due for essential maintenance - like the phaser arrays._

But after the quiet had dragged on for more than a fortnight the crew began to become restless for something to do.  But there was nothing for them to do.  All of _Voyager's systems were fully operational - for a change - and they'd not encountered any habitable planets for the crew to go on shore leave or to replenish their supplies.  As a result moral was deteriorating and a shortage of certain supplies was starting to become a problem._

*****

Captain Kathryn Janeway sighed as the turbolift doors opened and she stepped out onto the bridge to begin yet another tedious bridge shift.  What she wouldn't give for a Borg cube or something to show up just about now.  Anything to give her people something to do.

Commander Chakotay looked up from the first officer's station at the sound of the turbolift doors opening and smiled at her in greeting as Janeway came down from the upper level of the bridge to sit in the command chair.  Janeway looked at him in such away as to ask if there was anything to report.  Chakotay shook his head.  Janeway sighed as she settled into her chair.  It looked like this duty shift was going to be as boring as every other duty shift for the last month.

Twenty minutes later Kathryn Janeway was trying her best not to fall asleep in the command chair.  It would be a very bad example for the crew though most of them with the exception of Tuvok would understand it.

Abruptly the sensors at the operations console bleeped startling everyone - especially Ensign Kim.  With a professionalism that would have been beyond him a few years ago Harry Kim pulled himself together and checked the readouts and felt a sharp jolt of excitement.  Finally something to do.

"Captain we're picking up a distress call on one of the higher subspace bands.  Audio only."  From his position he could see Janeway sit up a little bit higher in her chair.

"On speakers Mr Kim," she ordered.  Harry pressed the appropriate controls on his console and abruptly the overhead speakers crackled and new noises filled the bridge.

"…To any ship," a distorted male voice said over the sound of explosions, shorting circuits and the wail of alarms.  "This is the…. I am under attack.  Shields weakening.  Please help."

"Can you get a fix on the origin of the signal Mr Kim," Chakotay asked.

"It's coming from a star system point zero two light years from our present location."

"Tom adjust our course," Janeway ordered.

"Aye captain," Lieutenant Thomas Paris replied from the helm.

"Red alert," Janeway ordered.

Barely four minutes later _Voyager dropped out of warp all systems ready for battle should the need arise._

Captain Kathryn Janeway kept her eyes focused on the view screen as _Voyager closed on the source of the distress call.  There were two ships engaged in battle or rather one ship firing the other sitting completely helpless.  The helpless ship was a small smooth hulled delta-shaped vessel around twice the size of a Runabout and was now slowly tumbling as energy bolt after energy bolt from the larger ship pummelled it mercilessly.  Even without the aide of a tactical display Janeway could see that the small ship wouldn't be able to take much more._

"Open a channel to the attacking ship," she ordered briskly.

"Channel open," Harry responded.

"Attention hostile vessel this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship _Voyager.  Break off your attack immediately."  The alien ship ignored them and fired again upon its nearly helpless prey knocking it tumbling from end to end._

"The smaller vessels shields have collapsed," Tuvok reported.  "They cannot withstand another hit."

"Hail the attacking ship again."

"Still no response captain."

"All right then.  Mr Tuvok lets see if we can get their attention.  Fire a warning shot across their bow."

A phaser beam rippled forth from one of _Voyager's forward weapons arrays.  A dense orange javelin of destructive energy that grazed the forward shields of the attacking ship lighting them up and shaking the vessel but doing no real damage._

"Alien ship is scanning us," Tuvok reported even as a blue band of light leapt into existence between them and the alien ship.  The light passed through the shields and hull as if they were not there.  The light swept across the bridge from left to right scanning everyone.  The light appeared to pause on Tom for nearly a full second before scanning everyone else then it changed colour becoming green and focusing on the computers.

"Captain the scanning beam is attempting to access our main computer," Harry Kim called out in alarm.

"Block it," Janeway ordered.  Harry's hands danced across his console and the green light spluttered and went dead.

"Alien ship is targeting us captain," Tuvok reported just before a bolt of red light shot out from the alien ship to slam into their forward shields shaking _Voyager hard.  "Disruptor-style weapons captain.  Shields are holding."_

"Target their weapons arrays and return fire," Janeway ordered as another disruptor blast shook _Voyager.  Phaser beams ripped forth to slam into the alien's forward shields._

"Direct hit their shields are holding."

"Photon torpedoes."  Tuvok nodded and a pair of photons blasted forth to smash into the alien's forward shields punching them well into the red.  Tuvok followed the torpedoes with another round of phaser fire that sliced through the weakened shields to demolish the alien's forward disruptors.

"Alien weapons have been destroyed," Tuvok reported.  "They are withdrawing captain."  Janeway nodded she could see it herself.  On the screen the vaguely shark-like alien warship turned one hundred and eighty degrees before shooting off at full impulse power a minute before something strange happened.  Rings of subspace energy appeared at the bow and stern of the ship then the stern rings collapsed onto the front rings and the ship vanished in a flash of blue.

"What the hell was that?" Janeway wondered in amazement she tapped her combadge.  "Bridge to Seven of Nine."

"I am aware of what you are calling about captain," the ex-Borg responded calmly.  "The alien ship appeared to open some kind of conduit to escape.  Exact mechanism is unknown but it is not transwarp."

"Run a full analysis of our sensor readings."

"I am already on it captain."

"Keep me informed Janeway out."  Janeway closed the channel.  "Mr Kim scan the remaining ships for survivors."

"I read one life sign on the alien ship captain.  Ma'am the life sign it looks almost Human."  Janeway whirled to look at her operations officer.

"Explain?"

"I wish I could the life sign is very faint.  Hard to lock onto.  Captain the alien ships reactor core is overloading.  It will breach in approximately one minute."

"Beam the survivor straight to sickbay," Janeway ordered.  "Alert the doctor.  Mr Paris move us away as soon as transport is complete."

"Aye captain."

"Transport complete," Harry called out.

"Engaging impulse engines," Paris responded immediately his knowledgeable hands dancing over his console.  

The impulse drive engaged and _Voyager moved away from the dying alien ship.  A moment later the alien ship exploded in a titanic blast of energy and fire that was much more powerful than an antimatter blast.  The subspace shockwave jolted the ship violently._

"Damage report," Janeway ordered.

"Shields at sixty percent," Tuvok reported.  "Minor damage to the outer hull.  No other damage reported and no casualties."

"Doctor to Captain Janeway," the familiar voice of their holographic doctor said.  Janeway tapped her combadge.

"Yes doctor?"

"You better come down here captain there's something that you are going to want to see."

"I'm on my way."  Janeway closed the channel.  "Chakotay you have the bridge.  I'll be in sickbay."

"Aye captain."


	2. Chapter 2

When Worlds Collide

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Chapter Two 

Kathryn Janeway entered sickbay a couple of minutes later to find the Doctor waiting for her, with a very strange look on his face.

"Your call sounded urgent," she said walking up to the Doctor.

"Believe me it was," the Doctor replied leading her over to the surgical bay biobed on which lay the figure of a handsome young man in his late twenties or early thirties and dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit that shimmered slightly.  A military looking sash and belt were worn over the jumpsuit and engraved with alien glyph symbols.  The jumpsuit and sash looked familiar though Janeway couldn't remember off the top of her head where she'd seen it before.

"The survivor," Janeway exclaimed.

"Yes," the Doctor replied.  "He's the reason that I called you captain.  During my examination of him I discovered numerous things that should not be."

"Explain Doctor," Janeway demanded.

"This man looks Human," the Doctor began.  "If fact he is Human for the most part.  Organ function and placement all conforms to Human normal.  However there are also numerous differences between him and a normal Human."

"What kind of differences Doctor?"

"Take a look at this."  The Doctor carefully picked up the unconscious man's hands and turned them palm up for Janeway to see.  Janeway's eyes widened as she saw the faint reddish diamond shaped mark in the centre of each of the mans palms - she'd seen that before.  "You recognise it I see," the Doctor said.

"Of course I do," Janeway replied looking up at the Doctor.  "So do you."  The Doctor nodded.

"I think we should tell him," the Doctor said.  Janeway didn't have to ask which one of her crew the Doctor was referring to.  She had to reluctantly agree though she knew full well the kind of painful memories that this would stir up.  Reluctantly she tapped her combadge.

"Janeway to Paris.  Your presence is required in sickbay."

"I'll be right there captain," Paris responded immediately before signing off.  Janeway looked up at the Doctor.

"Did you find anything else Doctor," she said after a moment hating what they were having to do for the pain it would bring to Tom.  She could tell that the hologram hated it as well - they were the only two on board who knew why this would hurt Tom, Janeway more than the Doctor, because it would bring up memories of an experience with the Cardassians that Tom Paris would much rather forget.

"Yes," the Doctor replied.  "In addition to these organs - what were they called again the information you gave me shortly after my initial activation was somewhat sketchy on that detail."

"To be honest Doctor I cannot remember," Janeway admitted even as she searched her memories of her time on the _Al-Batani under then Captain Owen Paris for the information.  "I think they were called shaqarava but I'm not sure it was so long ago.  What did you find?"_

"Of right.  As I was saying in addition to these shaqarava things I found a network of energy conduits running throughout this mans body.  However captain they are different to the ones that were featured in the file that you gave me."

"What do you mean," Janeway asked in confusion.

"For one thing they are a lot more developed and much more integrated with this mans body than those that existed - albeit temporarily in Mr Paris," the Doctor replied.  "My guess is that this man was born with them."

"Have you treated his injuries?"

"Of course.  He only had a concussion and some slight internal bleeding.  Easy to deal with.  He will sleep for another couple of hours yet then he'll be ready for discharge.  That's why I wanted you and Mr Paris to see him first."

At that moment the sickbay doors opened and Lieutenant Paris came through a look of curiosity on his face.

"You sent for me cap…" he started to say as he walked up to the surgical bay before stopping and freezing as he saw the man lying on the biobed.  A cascade of different emotions abruptly flashed across his face as the sight triggered memories that he would rather not face again.  Not exactly relating to the man or the mysterious, ancient and powerful aliens that his uniform represented but to the nightmare that had led up to the one and only encounter with the Taelons that the Federation had ever had.

For a few moments he lost himself in the memories.  Memories of being drugged when he'd gone to Risa after graduating from the Academy for a holiday before getting his first posting, of waking up in a Cardassian lab, being experimented on by a cruel Cardassian scientist, the pain as the alien DNA injected into him by the Cardassian started to alter him into something else.  His escape and flight from a squadron of Cardassian cruisers.  Being rescued and treated by a group of strange Humans and energy based aliens who he'd later learned were called Taelons.  Being returned to his father who'd been getting increasingly frantic with worry when the Taelons intercepted the _Al-Batani.  The months of counselling that had followed, the nightmares._

A hand on his arm jolted him out of his memories.  Tom pulled himself back to the hear and now with great difficulty to see that Captain Janeway had left her place by the biobed and was standing besides him with a hand on his arm and looking concerned.

"Why did you call me here," Tom demanded to know the question coming out angrier than he had intended.  Janeway didn't take offence at Tom's tone of voice, she'd been expecting it.

"Because we wanted you to see him before he wakes up and is allowed to leave sickbay," Janeway replied.  "We didn't want you to be completely surprised if you saw him in the mess hall or something."  Tom looked back at the sleeping man - hybrid he should say lying on the biobed.

"I understand," he said softly even as he closed his eyes for a moment forcing the memories back down.  Now was not the time for an emotional display.  He opened his eyes again.  "Thank you for that."

"It's alright," Janeway replied seeing in his eyes that Tom was quiet close to breaking down with the emotions that his memories were bringing to the surface again.  "You can go now if you want.  I'll have Chakotay excuse you from duty for the rest of the day.  Go rest up Tom."  Though it was disguised as a concerned request Tom knew an order when he heard one.

"Aye captain," he replied softly then gently pulled his arm out of Janeway's grip before turning and leaving the room.  He would go to the quarters he had begun to share with B'Elanna after their marriage a few weeks ago to pull himself back together. 

After watching him go Janeway turned to the Doctor.

"Keep me appraised of your patients condition Doctor," she ordered softly.

"Aye captain," the Doctor replied.  Janeway then turned and left the room also.  She waited until she was in the turbolift heading back to the bridge before calling Chakotay and asking him to meet her in her ready room - what they had to discuss was not for anyone else on the bridge to know.  After signing off with Chakotay she called B'Elanna Torres.


	3. Chapter 3

When Worlds Collide 

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**Chapter Three**

As soon as he got to his quarters Tom Paris went to the lounge area and sat down and buried his head in his hands and began to tremble as the emotions refused to stay buried.  God why oh why did they have to pick up that distress call and get there in time to save the pilot.  If they hadn't he would have to face this again.  _Thomas Eugene Paris you stop that line of thinking immediately, he told himself harshly, __we saved someone's life.  That's more important than it causing you discomfort just because the guy brings back painful memories. _

With a sigh he sat up properly and then paused looking at his palms noting for the first time in years the faint almost invisible diamond shaped marks that were the only sign of the shaqarava that had once been there.  As he looked at them memories momentarily burst into his awareness.

(Waking up back in his cell after another 'examination' by Dr Rusal.  Feeling an itching sensation coupled with a strange warmth in his palms.  Looking down and starring in shock and surprise at the blue energy blazing in the centre of each hand like a small star.)

(Later holding up his hands and pointing his palms at Rusal and two Cardassian soldiers.  Blue energy blasting from him knocking all three flying to lay dead against the far wall.  The energy fading away as he raced over to them and grabbed one soldiers communicator and phaser.)

The sharp bleep of the door chime jolted him out of his memories for which Tom was infinitely grateful.  Forcing himself to sit up straight he called out.

"Come in."  The door opened and to his total lack of surprise B'Elanna came through - her shift had to have ended a little earlier than he'd thought, either that or Janeway relieved her early - which knowing the captain was by far the more likely option.

One look at her husband filled B'Elanna with concern.  The captain hadn't really said anything when she'd called her in engineering just that her duty shift was ending early and that Tom was going to need her, that had been enough for her to hear and she'd raced to their quarters.  Immediately B'Elanna could see that there was something very wrong with her husband - so she quickly hurried over and sat down beside him.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.  Tom merely took B'Elanna's hand and held it for a moment before letting go and putting an arm across her shoulders and pulling close to her.

"How much did she tell you," Tom asked as he huddled close to his wife.  B'Elanna knew immediately that Tom was referring to Captain Janeway.

"Only that you needed me," B'Elanna replied softly into his ear.  "She said that it would be up to you to tell me the rest."  Tom nodded as if that was what he had expected.  B'Elanna gently pulled away from her husbands embrace and turned in place to look at him.  "Talk to me Tom," she said softly.  "What's bothering you?"

Tom looked down at the floor for a few long minutes.  God did he wish that there was away to get out of this - but he'd learned before that talking about it was really the only way to deal with it, trying to deny that it had happened like he had first tried to do didn't work.  It had nearly destroyed him.  If his father hadn't caught him in time he would have taken his own life at one point so great had been the depression he'd sunk into afterwards.  But god talking about it was so hard.

B'Elanna waited patiently for Tom to speak.  She could see how hard and how painful this was for him.

"It was almost eleven years ago now," Tom began.  "In the last days of the Federation/Cardassian war.  I had gone to Risa for a holiday after graduating from the academy.  There I was as green and naive as Harry when he first came aboard.  While there I met someone - a girl who called herself Janice.  We got close."

"One night we went back to the apartment where I was staying," Tom continued.  "It was there that she stuck a Cardassian hypospray in my neck and knocked me out."

"She was a Cardassian agent," B'Elanna asked.  Tom nodded.  "What did they do to you," she growled angrily knowing the things that the Cardassians were capable of.  If the Cardassian had done something to Tom then she'd - we'll lets just say that the Cardassians would be glad that she was twenty-eight thousand light years away from them.

"I was going to get to that soon enough," Tom replied.  "Please B'Elanna just let me tell you this it's hard enough without having to answer questions."  B'Elanna nodded reluctantly.  "Okay then.  I don't know how long the drug she injected me with kept me out but when I woke up I found myself in a Cardassian lab on a secret military research base under the authority of a Cardassian scientist called Karus Rusal." B'Elanna hissed as she heard that name.  Like most people she knew about Karus Rusal - she'd been a ruthless, brutal scientist attached to the Central Command.  Rusal had developed a variety of biogenic weapons for the Cardassian military before dying in mysterious circumstances.

"Rusal had soldiers bring me into her laboratory on the base," Tom continued.  "She said that they were going to use me as an experimental subject.  Apparently a few weeks earlier a highly advanced but unknown alien ship had gone down on a planet in Cardassian space.  The ship was destroyed on impact but in the wreckage the Cardassians found an alien survivor badly wounded.  It was an energy based life form.  From it they took some DNA before it died.  Rusal had come into possession of that DNA sample.  Their analysis had shown that it was compatible with Human DNA.  Rusal injected the DNA into me just to see what would happen."

"I must have been knocked unconscious again at that point.  For when I woke up I was back in my cell.  Slowly over a period of a few hours I began to feel strange.  Then the pain and convulsions started."  Tom looked down for a moment shuddering at the memory.  B'Elanna gently put her hand on his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"The pain was terrible," Tom went on after a moment.  "As though every cell in my body was on fire.  I screamed and screamed until my throat was raw.  Eventually the Gul Yurad - the officer commanding the troops protecting the base took pity on me and had one of the medical staff administer a pain suppressant.   It helped a little.  I passed out again.  When I awoke I was in Rusal's lab again held down by binders and a force field.  Rusal was examining me and she seemed pleased and intrigued by what was going on.  You see the alien DNA was integrating itself with mine.  Altering me into somekind of hybrid.  Anyway she knocked me out again after that."

"I woke up back in my cell god knows how long later.  The pain was still there but no where near as bad.  It didn't take me long to realise that Gul Yurad's medic had administered another pain suppressant.  It was then that I noticed a strange itching sensation in the palms of my hands along with a warmth.  When I looked down I received the shock of my life.  My palms were glowing with this weird blue energy.  When I flexed my fingers it faded away and then I saw the marks.  These marks."  Tom gently removed his hand from under B'Elanna's and turned it so the palm was facing up.  He also showed her the palm of his other hand.  B'Elanna's eyes widened when she saw the faint diamond marks in the palms of his hands.  "The marks were once a lot more prominent than now.  Now there just like birthmarks then they were actually organs."

"I sat there in my cell for awhile after that," Tom continued.  "Wondering what these things in my hands were.  And that's when I started to hear the voices in my mind.  Distant at first speaking a language I didn't understand, at least at first, but slowly I began to understand and I learned from the voices that the things appearing in my hands were called shaqarava.  I was knocked out again at that point and once more experimented on by Rusal."

"When I awoke in my cell again I knew enough about the shaqarava to plan an escape.  I knew from overhearing the guards talking that the block where I was being held wasn't far from the shuttle bays.  So when Rusal and two soldiers came for me again I turned the shaqarava on them and god knows how I made energy bolts shoot out of my hands.  All three were killed instantly.  I took the one guards phaser and communicator and made a run for the shuttle bay."

"With the communicator I was able to avoid the patrols searching for me and get to the shuttle bay.  I stole a long range fighter and made my escape heading straight for the Federation boarder.  Gul Yurad persued me with the three Galor cruisers that he'd had in orbit.  They were gaining on me despite my best efforts at evasion.  After about four direct disruptor hits the shields on my fighter were down and the warp drive was out.  Gul Yurad was about to beam me over to his flagship to take me back when help arrived."

"An alien cruiser just appeared from nowhere - I guess that it must have been cloaked.  I'd never seen anything like it before but somehow I knew it meant me no harm.  It opened fire on the Cardassian cruisers.  All three were blown out of space in less than two minutes.  I was tractored aboard the cruiser, where I was met by a group of Humans in blue jumpsuits and willowy aliens in identical jumpsuits.  They took me to their medical bay where they promptly put me unconscious."

"When I woke up I was still in their medical bay but I was no longer hurting and for the first time in nearly four weeks I felt normal.  The alien commander came in then.  He identified himself as Ju'su of the Taelon Empire.  He told me many things - that they were an energy based life form, that they had once been to Earth and interacted with us, that the Humans on board were actually Human/Taelon hybrids who'd come with them when the Taelons left Earth and Humanity to grow into our own destiny.  He told me that I had almost become a Taelon/Human hybrid myself but that they had been able to stop it and return me to normality.  The only signs of what I had nearly become remaining were the shaqarava marks in my hands.  The told me that some Taelon DNA remains in my system but that it's now completely dormant and no longer interacts with my Human DNA."

"They then returned me to my father.  Crossing the boarder into Federation space they sought out and intercepted my fathers ship.  After returning me to him they gave him a file of information on what had been done to me, while also telling him that one day they would actually come to Earth again in the hopes of establishing a relationship with us but that that time had not come.  A copy of the file the Taelons gave my father is here on _Voyager in the Doctors database - Captain Janeway put it there she knew because at the time she was my fathers science officer.  Anyway my father returned to Earth at top speed."_

"It was almost two years before I was able to return to active duty.  My first assignment back on duty was Calidik Prime and we both know what happened then and what followed after."

B'Elanna had listened with rapt attention to the whole of Tom's tale.  She could tell by looking at him that telling it had been very hard on him.

"I haven't thought about it in years," Tom finished.  "Until a few hours ago now when the captain called me to sickbay.  You see the survivor that we beamed over from that ship before it exploded is one of the Human/Taelon hybrids.  They wanted me to see him first before he recovers enough to move around the ship rather than have me just bump into him in the mess hall."

"I see," B'Elanna said softly taking his hand again.  "Seeing him brought the memories flooding back."  Tom nodded.

"The memories and the pain," he replied feeling tears at the memories come to his eyes.  Noticing this B'Elanna immediately pulled him close to her as he broke down and cried on her shoulder.

As she held her husband B'Elanna found herself wishing that Rusal was still alive and in easy reach of her.  So she could kill her painfully for causing Tom so much pain, for violating him so badly.  With effort B'Elanna contained her fury at what had been done to her husband, she could work it out on the holodeck later.  For now she just held her husband reassuringly as he wept out the reaction to the painful memories of imprisonment and experimentation that had been brought to surface once again after so long being buried.


	4. Chapter 4

When Worlds Collide 

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Chapter Four 

**Ready Room  
A Short Time Later**

Captain Kathryn Janeway studied the systems status reports on her desk without much enthusiasm.  She was too worried about Tom to really see the reports.  She knew all to well how much seeing that hybrid survivor had shocked him and the memories that it had brought to the surface.  She couldn't imagine what Tom had gone through those few weeks when he'd been a prisoner of the Cardassians - but she knew that it was the stuff of nightmares.  It had taken along time for Tom to recover from it - two years of therapy had been necessary.  The last thing that Tom ever wanted was to really remember what had happened to him.  But it had been inevitable from the moment that the hybrid had been brought aboard that he would end up remembering.

"Bridge to Janeway," Chakotay's voice abruptly said over the intercom.  Janeway tapped her combadge.

"What is it Chakotay?"

"We've got company.  Two warships identical to the one that attacked the alien shuttle."

"Yellow alert shields up," Janeway ordered standing up.  "I'll be right out."

A moment later she was stepping through the ready room doors onto the bridge just as additional personnel arrived in response to the sounding of yellow alert.  Somehow she wasn't surprised to see that Tom was amongst them.  He didn't sacrifice his duty for personal reasons - in a yellow or red alert his place was on the bridge no matter what.  She watched him take his station at the helm without saying anything.

"Status report," she ordered as she moved to her chair and sat down.

"Both warships have come to a halt seven hundred kilometres off our port and starboard bow," Tuvok reported calmly.  "Their shields are up but weapons are currently not powered."

"Hum maybe they're in a mood to talk this time," Janeway said.  "Hail them Mr Kim."

"They're responding."

"On screen."  The view screen changed from a view of the two mean-looking shark-like warships hanging silent in space to a view of the alien commander.  The alien was unlike anything she had ever seen before.  

Four slender legs supported a barrel shaped body from which sprouted four narrow arms ending in four fingered hands.  Its head was vaguely reminiscent of a hammerhead shark.  It appeared to have twelve eyes arranged in two lines - four below, two above on either side of the centre line of the face.  The central part of its face was given over to what looked almost like gills in the way that they flapped slowly.  Its mouth was round and sunk someway back from the rest of the face.  The alien wore no clothes.

Janeway cleared her throat.

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the…"

"I know who you are," the alien commander interrupted her in a voice the computer interpreted as male.

"Then you have me at a disadvantage sir."

"I am First Commander Shaltar of the Delkari Imperial Guard Deep Space Patrol unit.  Commanding the patrol cruiser _Valkareth."_

"Well then First Commander what can we do for you."

"A number of hours ago now you interfered with a matter that was not of your concern.  You interfered in the lawful pursuit and punishment of a criminal."

"You mean the man we transported over earlier.  What is his crime?"  Shaltar gave her a look that although coming from a completely alien being said that it should have been obvious.

"Why existing of course," Shaltar responded.  "Imperial law forbids the existence of Taelon hybrids of any race in our space.  Any detected are taken for 'relocation.'  Since you are in Delkari territory you are under out law.  And you have committed three very serious violations in addition to violating our space.  That last part can be forgiven since we only claimed this sector a month ago.  But the three other violations cannot be ignored."

"What are these violations."

"Kindly do not insult my intelligence further captain by pretending that you do not know.  One you rescued a Taelon hybrid.  Two our earlier ships scan shows that you have a former hybrid aboard your vessel." _He means me, Tom thought with a shiver hating being called even a former hybrid.  He hadn't been a full Human/Taelon hybrid - just a partial one until the Taelons rescued him from Gul Yurad and made him fully Human again.  He focused his attention for Shaltar was speaking again.  "The third and final violation is firing upon one of our patrol vessels as it attempted to perform its duty.  It is the will of the High Council of the Delkari Empire that you be escorted to our homeworld to face questioning in regards to your offences."_

"And if I refuse to comply," Janeway asked already knowing the answer.

"You don't have a choice," Shaltar replied.  "You will come with my ships to Delkara or you will be fired upon and ceased."

"I don't respond well to threats."

"Captain Janeway I urge you not to be a fool.  Lower your shields and prepare to follow us back to our homeworld for processing."

"That is not possible."  Shaltar shook his head.

"Then I regret your stubbornness.  Very well then Captain Janeway we will do this the hard way.  Prepare to be boarded."  Shaltar broke the signal from his end.

"They are powering up their weapons," Tuvok reported.

"Red alert.  All hands to battle stations," Chakotay ordered automatically just before Janeway could give the same orders.  The main lights dimmed right down and crimson coloured alert lights began to pulse as klaxon's sounded throughout the ship.

Barely a second later a shimmering green energy pulse shot out from the _Valkareth and struck __Voyager's shields and immediately expanded into a shimmering corona that completely enveloped the shields - the energy waxing and waning as it struggled to adjust to __Voyager's shield modulation.  A second later it succeeded and broke through and immediately refocused itself into four main concentrations of energy that impacted the warp nacelles and impulse engines._

On _Voyager's bridge sparks abruptly shot out of side panels at both the engineering and helm stations._

"Warp and impulse engines just went down," Tom Paris reported.  "We're dead in the water."

"Bridge to engineering," Janeway said into the intercom.

"I'm already on it captain," B'Elanna Torres responded.  "Somehow that energy pulse completely disrupted both the impulse driver coils and the warp field nacelles.  I have teams on it now.  I could use Seven's help though."  Janeway nodded to Seven of Nine - who was standing at her regular bridge station behind the command chair.  Seven nodded and hurried to the turbolift and disappeared inside.

"She's on her way," Janeway told Torres before signing off.

Even as she finished speaking a bolt of red disruptor light abruptly launched from one of the _Valkareth's main cannons to dissipate in a harmless blue flash of Cherenkov radiation as it encountered and dissipated harmlessly against __Voyager's forward shields shaking the ship but doing no damage.  Another disruptor bolt launched from the cruiser.  The second cruiser fired simultaneously.  __Voyager shuddered violently beneath the combined blasts._

Janeway held on to the armrests of her chair as _Voyager shook._

"Return fire," Janeway ordered.  Phaser beams lashed out from _Voyager slamming into the forward shields of both cruisers.  Delkari shields flashed brightly with Cherenkov radiation as the beams hit._

"Direct hit on both cruisers," Tuvok reported.  "Minor damage to their forward shields."  Two streams of disruptor fire abruptly ripped into _Voyager shaking the ship violently.  "Shields at eighty percent."_

"Target the _Valkareth hit Shaltar with everything we've got," Janeway ordered.  Tuvok nodded._

_Voyager ripped at the __Valkareth with the full power of her formidable weapons array hammering its forward shields with multiple phaser beams and photon torpedoes at point blank range.  The Delkari cruiser staggered under the battering and pulled back a little as Shaltar's tactical officer hurriedly re-routed power to shore up the shields which were starting to weaken under the punishing onslaught.  The second cruiser fired every disruptor it could bring to bear at __Voyager in an attempt to draw some of the fire that was hammering the flagship.  _

_Voyager  rocked under the assault._

"Shields at sixty percent," Tuvok reported.  "Minor damage to the outer hull."

"Target photons at the second cruiser but maintain phaser fire on Shaltar," Janeway ordered as another barrage shook _Voyager.  _

Photon torpedoes slammed into the second cruiser physically punting the ship hard to port with the force of the impact.  The cruisers shields held just.  Meanwhile _Voyager's phasers continued to pound Shaltar's ship not allowing it even a second to recover.  The __Valkareth veered away at full impulse attempting to gain some distance to shore up its weakening shields.  It covered its flight by firing a salvo of phased plasma torpedoes at __Voyager._

The torpedoes slammed into _Voyager violently rocking the ship.  Sparks shot out of numerous panels around the bridge.  Simultaneously the second cruiser fired more disruptor blasts that ripped into the shields._

"Shields down to thirty percent," Tuvok reported.

"EPS relays have blown out on decks four and five," Harry Kim added.  "Astrometric sensor array off line.  Minor damage to the secondary hull.  We're venting plasma from our port nacelle.  Subspace transceiver array off line."  _Voyager shuddered again as Shaltar's ship came back in on her port side hammering with its disruptors overloading the port shields and starting to slash into the hull._

"Port shields are down," Tuvok reported.

"Hull ruptured on decks seven and eight," Harry reported.  "Emergency force fields in place and holding.  Fires detected in all connecting sections.  Automatic fire suppression is off line.  Fire control crews responding."  Another bolt shook _Voyager and fire broke out at three places round the bridge.  The crew scrambled for the manual extinguishers.  _

"That disruptor blast took out our shield generators," Tuvok reported.  "We are now completely defenceless."  Changes on his board caught his attention.  "We are being boarded captain.  Phaser fights reported on decks eight and nine."

Before Janeway could issue an order three transporter bands appeared in the centre of the bridge and resolved into Delkari soldiers.  No one waited to be fired on.  Tom darted away from the helm station and using it as a shield fired his phaser just as Harry and Tuvok did the same.  The three Delkari caught in the centre of the triangle of fire went down without a sound.

More transporter bands appeared around the bridge and resolved into more Delkari soldiers who were immediately met with phaser fire from the bridge crew.  Then abruptly transporter beams activated again and beamed all of the Delkari away even those who'd been stunned unconscious.

"Their beaming off the ship," Chakotay reported looking at his console.

"I believe I have an explanation commander," Tuvok replied.  "An unidentified alien ship has just appeared.  It's firing upon both Delkari vessels."

Indeed it was.  The new alien ship was big around half again as large as a Galaxy-class starship and constructed of organic materials.  It closed on the two Delkari cruisers firing volleys bright blue-green energy pulses.  The _Valkareth already seriously wounded by __Voyager's weapons fire blew apart as the pulses ripped through her shields to smash her hull open.  The second cruiser veered off and escaped in the same manner as the ship __Voyager had encountered a few hours before._

Janeway watched silently as the ship that had come to their rescue moved towards them then stopped a polite one thousand kilometres off their bow. Janeway recognised the style and construction of the vessel - she had seen one only once before, though this one was a different design and was much bigger than the one she'd previously seen.  A glance at Tom showed that he recognised it as well.

It was a Taelon warship.

For a moment there was silence on the bridge save for the fitful sparking of fallen wires and shorting systems, then the incoming signal chirp filled the air.

"We're being hailed captain," Harry Kim said.

"On screen," Janeway ordered.

For a second the view screen spluttered as if forcing its damage circuits to change the image that was being display.  However after a second the image changed from a view of the Taelon warship sitting quietly in space to a view of its bridge.  And the Human male sitting in the command chair.  Janeway took a deep breath to compose herself fully before speaking.

"My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship _Voyager," she said to the male hybrid who was waiting patiently for her to speak.  "Thanks for the help."_

"General Liam Kincaid Taelon Defence Force commanding the battleship _Wasarin.  You are quiet welcome.  In fact we owe you our thanks.  My sensors show that you have one of our people onboard."_

"Yes we saved him from the Delkari," Janeway replied.

"I suspected as much," Liam responded.  "Captain Janeway my sensors show that your ship has sustained very serious damage.  The Delkari will return soon and they'll probably bring their allies and informal masters the Jaridians with them."

"Your point being?"

"We can tow your vessel to one of our outpost worlds located not to far from here.  You will be safe their and can make repairs and take on supplies."  

Janeway considered for a moment.  Having a safe port to go to would be useful for the repairs they needed to make and their supply situation was becoming somewhat tight.  And here was this General Kincaid offering them the opportunity to go to a safe outpost world where they could do both.  She knew that Tom probably wouldn't like being surrounded by Taelons and hybrids - because they'd be reminders of what the Cardassians had done to him - but they needed to do this.  Out of the corner of her eye she caught Tom looking at her.  The look in his cool blue eyes said, _'go there.  It might make me uncomfortable but Voyager__ and the rest of the crew need this.  I'll manage.  Don't throw away this chance for me.' _

Finally she turned to the hybrid general who'd been waiting patiently for her answer.

"Very well General Kincaid."

"A wise decision captain.  We will take you in tow shortly.  Kincaid out."  The transmission ended.

On the screen the _Wasarin altered her position coming around and positioning herself so that __Voyager was directly underneath her.  A moment later a tractor beam gripped __Voyager and pulled the wounded Federation starship in close enough to the hull that she would be inside the field produced by the interdimensional drives.  After a few moments of building up the necessary power and warming up her drive coils the __Wasarin's pilot engaged the interdimensional drive._

On board _Voyager Kathryn Janeway and her crew were shocked when with a faint jolt and a flash of blue light space around both ships transformed into a glowing tunnel of multicoloured light and shimmering energy down which they were travelling at what had to be incredible speed.  Tom Paris glanced down at his console._

"Captain our speed its… incredible," he exclaimed in shock.  "According to these readings were travelling at speeds well in excess of transwarp speed."  Janeway looked at her senior helmsman in shock and surprise before exchanging an equally amazed look with Chakotay.  To travel so fast defied belief.  She'd known that the Taelons were a very powerful and advanced race from the _Al-Batani's meeting with them but that hadn't prepared her for this form of interstellar propulsion.  She'd always assumed that the Taelons used transwarp technology to get about, now it was obvious that they used something completely different.  If they could persuade the Taelons to share this technology with them they could get home quickly and easily.  She would have to discuss it with General Kincaid or whoever he told her to speak to about it when they got wherever it was they were going._


	5. Chapter 5

When Worlds Collide 

****

**Chapter Five**

**Ready Room**

**A Short Time Later**

The soft jolt that ran through _Voyager's deck startled Kathryn Janeway out of the report she was reading.  It was a complete analysis of all the damage that __Voyager had sustained in the battle with the Delkari and how long Lieutenant Torres estimated it would take to repair.  Some repairs had already been made - for example impulse power had been restored though warp drive was still out  Janeway tapped her combadge._

"Janeway to bridge what's going on?" she asked.

"We're back in normal space captain," Chakotay reported.  "According to our navigational sensors we're nearly a thousand light years from where we were.  The _Wasarin's tractor beam has released us now that our impulse engines are back on line and we're back in normal space."  __A thousand light years, she thought, __in what ten minutes.  With that kind of speed we could be back at Earth in no time.  She put the pad she was reading down on her desk and stood up._

"Have the Taelons given us any directions for entering orbit or docking with an orbiting station?"

"Not yet captain.  The _Wasarin is communicating with the main orbital station at this time.  My guess is that they'll contact us shortly."  As Chakotay was speaking Janeway rounded the edge of her desk and headed for the door._

A moment later she was stepping out onto _Voyager's bridge.  Damage control crews could still be seen moving around the three shattered consoles and around the science station where power relays had been overloaded during the battle.  She paid them no mind as they went about their work patching up the damage until more permanent repairs could be made.  Moving to the command chair she sat down just as the incoming signal chirp sounded._

"We're being hailed by the _Wasarin," Harry Kim reported._

"On screen."  General Kincaid's face and torso appeared on the view screen.

"Captain Janeway allow me to welcome you to the Ya'sa'ra system," Liam Kincaid said from the screen.  "I have been speaking with what you would call the dock master on the orbital station.  They've agreed to allow you to dock and make repairs.  Members of the engineer caste on the station will do what they can to assist you but I am afraid that our knowledge of Federation technology is somewhat limited.  If you tell us what supplies you need we will make sure that they are delivered to you."

"I will have a list made up," Janeway responded.  "General there are a number of things that I would like to discuss with you."

"Oh?"

"First off my crew is somewhat tired.  I was wondering if you would allow them to go down to the planet in small groups on shore leave once our repairs are completed."

  
"I am not the person you have to ask for that kind of permission captain," Liam responded.  "There is a representative of the Taelon Synod on board the space station at the moment I can arrange for you to speak with him if you wish."

"I would appreciate that."

"Then I will arrange it.  Is there anything else?"

"I believe it would probably be best to discuss it with the Synod representative that you spoke of."

"Ahh I see.  I will meet you on the station when you dock.  I am sending docking instructions to you now."  Janeway glanced over at Harry who nodded indicating that they have received the instructions.

"We have received your transmission."

"Good.  We will transport your guest off your ship in a moment.  If there is nothing else to discuss Captain Janeway then I will see you on the station."

"Very well general I will see you then."  Liam nodded at her then disappeared from the view screen as the _Wasarin stopped transmitting.  Janeway turned to Harry.  "Transfer the docking instructions to the helm Mr Kim."  She then turned to Tom sitting as usual station at the helm - though he was hiding it she could tell that he was uncomfortable being here.  "Mr Paris take us into dock."_

"Aye captain."  Tom whirled back to his station and paid close attention to the information that Harry had just transferred to his station and used it to plot an approach course to the space station that was currently on the otherside of the planet.

Commander Chakotay watched silently from the first officer seat.  He had picked up on Tom's strange nervousness and discomfort about being in this place - being around the Taelons in general seemed to make him uncomfortable.  Why he didn't know.  It was obvious to him that Captain Janeway knew but he had absolutely no idea why.  He wondered idly if it had something to do with that part of Tom's service record that nobody could get into - the part that was classified to captains eyes only.  After a couple of more moments thought Chakotay put it out of his mind.  If it had been necessary that he know he didn't doubt that Kathryn would have told him provided it wasn't something really personal to Lieutenant Paris - then she would no doubt have asked Tom for permission first.  But as far as he knew that had not happened.  So he put it out of his thoughts for now at least.  A bleep from ops caught his attention momentarily.

"Captain our guest has been transported from sickbay to the _Wasarin," Harry Kim reported calmly.  Janeway simply nodded._

At that moment the impulse engines engaged and _Voyager began to move slowly at first since she was at a dead stop.  Even with impulse engines it took a few seconds for seven hundred thousand tons of starship to actually get moving at the sublight speeds she was capable of.  But once __Voyager got moving she could move quickly like a space born cheetah.  As she did now accelerating rapidly to full impulse power._

The planet they were currently looping around was quiet beautiful Janeway thought.  There were three large continents in addition to the polar ice caps, two in the northern hemisphere and one in the south.  The rest of the planets surface was ocean that was an unusual bluish-green in colour.  Fluffy white clouds swirled in the atmosphere.  Orbiting the planet laid out in a series of concentric shells that seemed to encompass the entire planet were what were obviously defence platforms - such things tended to be obvious no matter what design the platforms were.  These appeared to be laid out a bit like flowers with three petal-like sections at the top and a smoothly curved central pod that ended in a circular maw.  Like the _Wasarin they were constructed of organic materials.  Clearly the Taelons used little or no metal in their technology - which was unusual.  Only a few races used organic based technology._

In addition to the defence platforms dozens of ships of various descriptions hung in orbit.  Some had similar configurations to the _Wasarin and to the ship that the __Al-Batani had encountered just over a decade ago - clearly warships.  But others were completely different in design and ranged in size from the ship they'd rescued the hybrid from to vessels roughly the same size as __Voyager._

Then _Voyager rounded the curve of the planetary horizon and what everyone saw next took their breath away - with the exception of Tuvok of course.  Hanging in orbit of the planet was an immense space station that defied description in its pleasing but very alien design.  The station was huge even bigger than some of the orbital stations found in Federation space.  Hanging close to the station was a ship that defied description as well.  It was massive at least twice as big as a Borg cube and yet was almost translucent.  Ribbons of light and energy could be seen moving beneath the transparent outer hull._

_Voyager slowed down noticeably as Tom reduced power to the engines as they closed rapidly on the station and began their approach for docking._

A moment later _Voyager's main port side airlock nuzzled against one of the stations docking ports - which looked more like a branch of a tree than a docking port.  The impulse engines shut down and the docking thrustors fired but once to bring them to a dead stop.  The station airlock locked onto __Voyager with a faint thud.  Space around __Voyager abruptly seemed to shimmer as somekind of force field was activated._

"We have just been encompassed by some sort of focused gravimetric force field," Harry Kim reported.  "According to sensors every ship that's docked with the station is gripped by a similar field."

"Probably designed to keep ships in place," Chakotay reasoned.

"A logical conclusion commander," Tuvok agreed from tactical.

"Captain we're receiving a message from the station," Harry Kim reported.  "They basically say welcome to Ya'sa'ra and that a number of people are waiting on the station to greet us and discuss our needs."

"Well we better not keep them waiting," Janeway said.  "Mr Kim respond to the stations communication and say that I'll be over shortly."  Harry nodded.  Janeway stood up from her chair.  "Chakotay, Tuvok your with me, have Neelix join us at the airlock.  Mr Paris you have the bridge."

Chakotay stood up from his chair and followed his captain and friend over to the turbolift.  Tuvok joined them just as they were about to get in.  The last thing Chakotay saw of the bridge before the turbolift doors closed was Paris relinquishing the helm to another bridge officer and moving over to sit in the command chair.

A few minutes later Janeway, Tuvok, Chakotay and Neelix stood in the chamber of _Voyager's airlock as it automatically began to cycle.  Since there was atmosphere on the other side there was no need for the chamber to depressurise so as soon as the inner doors closed the outer doors opened.  It was a safety feature built into all Federation ships and into the ships of most other races that the outer and inner airlock doors couldn't be open at the same time._

After taking a deep breath Janeway walked through the airlock to the station side.  As they crossed into the station they all passed through a pair of sophisticated force fields that seemed to function as the stations airlock at least near to the ship.  Beyond it was a wide hall that went on for quiet away.

As they walked down the hall Janeway paid attention to what it was like.  The bulkheads were softly curved and made of the same organic materials as the hull and seemed to be marbled with a web of shimmering colours that seemed to flow through the interconnected network of the marbling like water.  Light came from bone-like ridges spaces equally along the corridor.  The floor and ceiling were the same.  And everything gave off a soft blue glow.  Tuvok scanned the wall with his tricorder.

"Fascinating," Tuvok reported.  "These walls are definitely made of organic materials of unknown type.  The marbling that we see is a network of some sort of energy conduits carrying an energy form of unknown type."

Before Janeway could respond they came to the end of the corridor and came face to face with a blank wall.  As they approached a large part of the wall glowed brighter and seemed to dissolve away revealing a reception chamber beyond.  Cautiously Janeway and company stepped through the opening that had so unexpectedly appeared in the wall.

Two individuals were waiting for them in the reception room.  One was General Kincaid and the other was a short willowy alien with pale skin.  A Taelon.  The being wore a blue jumpsuit similar to the ones Kincaid and all the hybrids they'd so far seen seemed to wear but without the military sash, belt and shoulder tabs.

"Captain Janeway a pleasure to meet you in person at last," Liam said softly making the Taelon gesture of greeting, he did so automatically as he was so used to it by now.  And he had always hated handshakes since for hybrids like him and for Jaridians and Taelons hand grasping was often the prelude to intense private sharing.  "Allow me to introduce Da'an a senior diplomat and member of the Synod."  Liam didn't say that Da'an had once been the North American Companion since the reference would be meaningless to Janeway.  Humans no longer remembered the Taelon visit to Earth.  All of their records of the contact had been destroyed in the nuclear holocaust of the Third World War and the nightmare that had followed before the contact with the Vulcans.  And the Vulcans had never met the Taelons so they had no record of them either.

"Greetings to you Captain Janeway," Da'an said softly making the greeting gesture.  He was delighted to actually be speaking with a full Human for the first time in nearly four centuries.  He'd missed them since the Taelons had left Earth.  True he could still talk to Liam and to all the hybrids - most of whom were descended from those Volunteers and Protectors who'd come with them - but it just wasn't the same.

"Greetings to you to Da'an," Janeway replied mimmicing the greeting gesture as best as she was able.  Tuvok, Chakotay and Neelix we're doing the same.  "This is my First Officer Commander Chakotay, my chief of security Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, and this is Neelix."

"Greetings to you all and welcome to Ya'sa'ra.  Captain Janeway Liam," Da'an threw an affectionate glance at the tall Kimera hybrid standing next to him, "here tells me that there are a number of things you would like to discuss with us."

"Yes."

"I have been instructed by the Synod to discuss these matters with you.  Would you please follow us."

With that Liam and Da'an turned away and began to move deeper into the space station.  Janeway and company hurried to catch up.


	6. Chapter 6

****

When Worlds Collide

Chapter Six

Da'an and Liam led them through the station for quiet some time. Janeway didn't mind the walk as it gave her a opportunity to observe the interior of station. As they moved deeper in they began to encounter more Taelons and more hybrids going about their business. Janeway noted the curious looks they were getting especially off the hybrids. _Guess they've never seen Starfleet officers before,_ she thought, _or are they just surprised to see two full Humans, a Talaxian and a Vulcan walking around their space station._

As they walked Tuvok especially took note of the number of hybrids they were encountering. Clearly for their to be so many hybrids around the Taelons had to have had a formal encounter with Humans sometime in the past – but their were no records of a contact between Humanity and the mysterious energy-based aliens. Certainly Humans had never encountered them during the Vulcans centuries long contact with them, so if their had been a contact between Humanity and the Taelons then it had to be pre-first contact, pre Human warp flight development. Yet again there were no records. Tuvok knew however of reports passed by word of mouth from Human generation to Human generation that stated that the first contact with another sentient race i.e. the Vulcans recording in the history books was not Humanities true first contact with another sentient race. Historians across the Federation dismissed the reports – as their was no concrete evidence of any prior Human/alien contact prior to the Vulcans – but still certain groups amongst the Humans continued to insist that their had been an alien contact prior to the Vulcan contact.

Tuvok personally found the suggestion quiet intriguing in its implications. It would explain the surprisingly mature way in which the Humans had greeted his people when they'd first set foot on Earth after the detected the warp signature of Zephram Cochranes warp ship the _Phoenix_. After all it was perfectly possible that all records and evidence of a prior contact between Humans and the Taelons had been lost or destroyed during the two great conflicts that had proceeded the flight of the _Phoenix_ namely the Eugenics War and the Third World War. After all whole cities had been vaporised in those two wars and hundreds of millions killed. But if there had been an extensive prior contact between Humans and Taelons why had the Taelons left Earth? Why didn't they stay? Tuvok supposed that those were pieces of this historical puzzle that only the Taelons themselves had.

Their arrival in a large room with an oval conference table surrounded almost entirely by Human-style chairs stopped Tuvok's mental speculation about a prior contact between Humans and Taelons.

"Please be seated," Da'an said gesturing to the chairs.

As they took seats Da'an made a hand gesture and a holographic console appeared in the air. Da'an typed in a command and a wall appeared over the entrance to the room sealing them in for now. Then Da'an came over to the table and sat in the alien style chair at the head of the table, General Kincaid followed and took a seat on Da'an's right hand side between Da'an and Commander Chakotay.

"Captain Janeway before we begin our talks I would like to ask you a question if I may," Da'an said politely.

"By all means Da'an," Kathryn Janeway replied.

"Could you please explain to me how you got here – by here I mean how you got to what you refer to as the Delta Quadrant. Our scans of your ship show that your ship only uses a warp engine to travel faster than light not transwarp or interdimensional. Your propulsion system is to primitive to allow you to travel at the speeds required to reach this part of this galaxy in a reasonable time."

"It is along story Da'an," Janeway replied. "We did not come here by choice."

"Please explain."

Taking a deep breath she launched into the now familiar explanation. How seven years ago _Voyager_ had been dispatched to the region of the Alpha Quadrant known as the Badlands to investigate the disappearance of Chakotay's Maquis ship the _Liberty_. How they'd encountered a coherent tetryon beam and been dragged into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. How they'd become stranded here when the Caretaker had died and she'd been forced to destroy the Caretaker Array to keep it out of the hands of the Kazon Ogla sect. How Chakotay had sacrificed the _Liberty_ – ramming her into the side of a Kazon mothership – to save the badly wounded _Voyager_ in that battle. How the surviving crews of _Voyager_ and _Liberty_ had merged together into one crew under her command with Chakotay serving as her first officer. How they'd set a course for Earth. She also outlined some of the things they'd been through in the last seven years.

Da'an was silent throughout her recital though he blushed blue allowing his natural form to show through his façade a number of times during he recital. Through the Commonality he could sense his own surprise being echoed by his fellow Taelons and by all those hybrids currently linked to the Commonality – since unlike full Taelons Human/Taelon hybrids could access and withdraw from the Commonality whenever they wanted just like Liam could.

"Your plight moves me deeply Captain Janeway," Da'an said after she had finished. "You bear a tremendous burden to your crew but you bear it well. To be stranded so far from home with only a vague hope of one day returning yet still trying speaks of tremendous strength of character. A trait of your species that I have always admired."

"We were hoping that you would be able to help us get home early," Chakotay said speaking for the first time in the meeting. "From what we saw when General Kincaid towed us here you have the ability to travel at previously unimagined speeds."

"You would like us to share our interdimensional technology with you," Da'an asked.

"If you could we would be extremely grateful," Janeway replied.

"I will have to discuss that with the Synod in general as I cannot make such a decision alone," Da'an responded quietly signalling Zo'or through the Commonality and asking for a Synod meeting to be called to discuss the matter of aiding _Voyager_. Zo'or had matured much in the last three hundred years and whereas once he would have reacted instantly without thinking the matter through he now considered and after a moment agreed to call a Synod meeting.

"That would be very much appreciated thank you Da'an."

"You are welcome. Now then do you wish to discuss anything else with me?"

"Yes," Janeway replied. "Many of my crew are tired and could do with a rest. We were wondering if once our repairs are completed it would be possible for them to go on shore leave to the planet below."

"That would be perfectly possible Captain Janeway," Da'an replied. "It has been three hundred and sixty-five of your years since my people interacted with yours we would welcome the chance to interact with you again."

"Then you have been to Earth?" Chakotay commented.

"Yes," Liam replied. "The Taelons came to Earth in the year 2008 and stayed for six years. But sadly you do not remember all the records of that time were lost during the Third World War. Many of us wanted to return after that war to help you recover and rebuild what was destroyed."

"However more pressing circumstances required our presence elsewhere," Da'an added. "So we could not come though as Liam has just said we wanted to." After a moment he returned to the prior subject. "Is there anything else we can do for you captain?"

"Not at this time Da'an helping us with repairs, resuplying us and allowing my people to go on shore leave on the planet is help enough," Janeway replied.

"Very well then," Da'an said. "Liam will escort you back to your ship while I get in touch with the Synod to present your request for the sharing of ID technology with them." Liam stood up.

"If you will come with me please," he said. Janeway and company nodded and stood up. Liam reopened the door to the corridor with a simple wave of his hand and led them out of the room.

Once they were gone Da'an closed the door again just as thirteen holographic representations of his fellow Synod members appeared around the table to discuss the matter of _Voyager's_ request for interdimensional technology.


	7. Chapter 7

When Worlds Collide

****

Chapter Seven 

**U.S.S _Voyager_**

A Short Time Later 

Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris left the bridge after the end of his bridge shift.  Although Captain Janeway had temporarily relieved him of duty when they'd brought that hybrid aboard he had wanted to take his bridge shifts as normal – especially after the battle that they'd been through with the Delkari.  He'd spoken to Captain Janeway in her ready room shortly after she'd returned from the Taelon space station and told her that he would much rather do his duties as normal than sit in his quarters doing nothing.  His commanding officer had understood that and agreed to have Chakotay put him back on the normal rota – starting with his regular evening command shift – which had just ended with him yielding bridge command to Harry who alternated commanding D shift with Tuvok, who had it depended on who was on A shift in the morning.

As the turbolift descended through the ship towards deck five where his and B'Elanna's quarters were Tom thought about what he was going to do now.  He wasn't really that tired at the moment, and he found it hard to sleep alone these days and tonight he would be sleeping alone as B'Elanna was busy in engineering overseeing the repairs which were proceeding at break neck speed thanks mainly to the assistance of engineers sent over from the station.  One had even come onto the bridge to help their engineers repair the damaged consoles.  He'd been nervous around the female hybrid for a good couple of minutes as she started helping with repairs – but he'd surprised himself by eventually ignoring her presence on the bridge.  He'd found that if he didn't think about what she was then he wasn't overly bothered.

After a moment – as the lift shifted to horizontal transit – he decided that he would think about what to do when he got to his quarters.  He could always use the holodeck – he had many holodeck programs besides Captain Proton, one of them would be certain to keep him happy for a couple of hours until he grew tired.

When he got to his and B'Elanna's quarters a few moments later he received a shock.  B'Elanna was there standing over by the table laying it.  She looked up at the sound of the doors opening.  She smiled when she saw him – she found the look on her husbands face quiet amusing.  She could tell that Tom was very surprised to see her in their quarters.

"Surprise," she said grinning from ear to ear.  "You thought I would still be in engineering didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Tom confessed as he came over and they embraced as they always did when reunited at the end of duty shifts.  "After all your usually reluctant to leave engineering whenever theirs damage to be repaired."

"Well I made an exception this time," she replied.  "The repairs are going smoothly.  All the damage will be repaired by the morning.  So I though I don't really have to stay here tonight – after all I have been awake for the better part of two days – so I left Carey in charge and came home.  Those engineers the Taelons sent over are damned good the tools and equipment they've brought with them are making the repairs progress three times faster than they would normally do."

"Yes they are good aren't they," Tom said.  "One of them actually came to the bridge with one of the engineering crews.  With her help they actually had all the damaged bridge systems back up and running in about half hour."

"Were you okay being so close to her," B'Elanna asked eyeing him in concern.  She knew that seeing both the Taelons and the hybrids was stirring up painful memories in him.  Memories of what Rusal had done to him.  "Are you all right being here at all?"  Tom considered for a moment.

"Yes and no," he confessed going over to window.  Leaning against the frame he looked out upon the myriad of stars – all of them unfamiliar but that was always the case here in the Delta Quadrant.  "It's like there are times when I can look at them and feel nothing except gratitude for them helping us.  But at other times I look at them and…"

"And seeing them makes you remember what Rusal did to you," B'Elanna finished for him.  She left where she was standing by the table and came to stand besides him.  Tom nodded.

"I know that they've never done anything to hurt me," Tom went on still looking out the window.  "Hell there the ones that saved me from Gul Yurad and made me Human again.  If Captain Ju'su hadn't shown up when he did I don't know what would have happened.  Though knowing the damned Cardassians it wouldn't have been very nice.  Especially since I'd just killed one of their best military scientists.  I'm grateful for what they did to help me – as soon as I started hearing them in my mind they were reassuring and kept telling me that I would be all right.  It's just seeing them now makes me remember something that I would much rather forget."

"That I can understand."  And understand she did.  What had been done to Tom had been kind of like what the Vidiians had done to her a few years ago when they'd split her into two separate individual versions of herself one fully Human and one fully Klingon in an attempt to find a cure for the phage.  It had been one of the worst experiences of her life even though in retrospect it had eventually helped her to understand a little bit more of who she was, lessened the ferocity of the war between the Human and the Klingon that raged inside her soul on a regular basis.

Tom glanced at her even as she remembered what the Vidiians had done to her.

"I know you can," he said softly he too remembered that instance.  In many ways being a friend to her in the aftermath of that incident had been the start of the relationship that eventually saw them dating and then a few weeks ago now getting married.  Even now six years on B'Elanna still occasionally had nightmares about it – just like he still sometimes had nightmares about what Rusal had done to him, and about Calidik Prime – but they were not that common these days.

After a couple of moments of companionable silence B'Elanna finally spoke up.

"So what are we going to do on our leave time," she asked referring to the fact that everyone was going to be allowed to go on shore leave to the station and to the planet below once the repairs to _Voyager were completed.  "Spend it on the holodeck."  Tom shook his head firmly._

"No we'll both end up getting cabin fever if we do that," he said softly.  "No why don't we go down to the planets surface.  I'm sure we can find a secluded place to have a nice quiet picnic or something, just the two of us.  Before you ask I will be all right going down their B'Elanna.  I won't hide away from any of this just because it's reminds me of that nightmarish encounter with the Cardassians I had years ago.  If I did that then at the end of the day Rusal would have won.  And I won't give that Cardassian bitch – whatever afterlife she's in now – that satisfaction."

"Good for you," B'Elanna replied proud of her husbands defiant attitude to the consequences of that experience.  "Now then how about you and I have some supper.  I don't know about you but I am starving."  Tom laughed.

"Same here," he replied.

*****

Next Morning 

Captain Kathryn Janeway settled down in her ready room feeling greatly refreshed after her nights sleep.  Every system on _Voyager was fully operational once more and the first members of the crew were preparing to go on shore leave to the station or the planet.  Looking at the rota she was both startled and pleased to see that two who were going down to the planet around lunch time were Tom and B'Elanna.  It was immediately clear to her that Tom wasn't going to let the demons of his past affect what he did with B'Elanna on their first shore leave as husband and wife.  She had been pleased by the whole way Tom had conducted himself from just after his initial shock reaction when they'd brought that male hybrid – whose name they still didn't know – onboard.  He had behaved remarkably well – refusing to let his past interfere with his duty._

"Bridge to Captain Janeway," Chakotay's voice said over the intercom.  Janeway tapped her combadge.

"Yes commander?"

"We're being hailed by the Taelons captain.  Da'an wishes to speak to you."  Janeway swivelled her desk terminal around and activated it.

"Put him through here."

"Aye captain."  Chakotay signed off and a moment later Da'an's face appeared on her screen.  Da'an inclined his head slightly in greeting.

"Good morning Captain Janeway.  I trust you slept well," the Taelon said.

"Fine thank you Da'an."

"I have good news for you Captain.  The Synod has agreed to your request regarding the interdimensional technology," Da'an said.  "However one of our engineers has reported that there is a problem."

"What kind of problem Da'an?"

"While repairing your ship our engineering crew also did an analysis of your propulsion and power systems.  I am afraid that there are a number of incompatibilities with our technologies.  We will eventually be able to overcome them but it will take some time.  Zo'or – the leader of the Synod – has made a suggestion on how we can speed that process up but we would like your opinion."

"Go on."

"We were planning on sending one of our ships to Federation space to ask for help on your behalf.  We could then bring any engineers or scientists back here to Ya'sa'ra to help adapt the ID technology to function on a Federation vessel."  Janeway could imagine what Starfleet Command would say to that.  They would jump at the chance – not just to get her ship back home, but to gain a new propulsion technology that didn't cause inadvertent damage to subspace in the way that warp engines did at higher speeds.  And the Federation Diplomatic Corps would jump at the chance at making a potentially very useful alliance with a race as ancient and as powerful as the Taelons.

"That would be a good idea," she agreed after a moment.  "I will have to record a message for Starfleet Command to explain everything but that won't be a problem.  I can think of several specialists who could be of assistance to us."

"Then I will order a ship prepared," Da'an replied.  "It will be ready to leave in an hour.  Is that sufficient time for you to record your message?"

"Plenty of time.  I will contact you again when the message is ready."

"Very well then.  Until later."

"Until later Da'an."  The Taelon gave her a final benign smile and then broke the transmission.  Janeway tapped her combadge again.  "Janeway to Chakotay please come to my ready room."

"I'll be right there captain," Chakotay responded.

*****

Ya'sa'ra Orbital Station A Short Time Later 

Da'an looked up at the sound of someone entering the chambers he was currently using as an office on the station.  He smiled warmly as soon as he saw who it was.

"Yes Liam?" he asked the Kimera hybrid who he didn't see often enough these days.  What with Liam's duties as a general in the Defence Force and his own duties with the Synod that took him to wherever his skills were needed most in the Taelons galaxies sprawling empire.  It was rare that he got a chance to see Liam for any length of time.  Which made the time that that he could spend with his old friend that much more valuable.

"The ship we're sending to Earth is ready Da'an," Liam replied.

"Good.  But I know you Liam you didn't come here just to tell me that."

"No I didn't," Liam admitted holding up a small datalog that had been cradled in the palm of his right hand.  "Intelligence has been picking up increased traffic on enemy communications channels."

"Of what kind," Da'an asked in concern.

"We cannot tell.  The information is highly encrypted.  The nature of the code is significant."

"How so."

"The codes Jaridian.  Prior enemy communications in this galaxy have always used Delkari codes.  The codes were detecting now are definitely Jaridian in origin."

"Do you believe that the Jaridians are preparing to re-enter the war," Da'an asked in real concern.  This second war with the Jaridian Empire had begun about forty Earth years ago – in that time the Jaridians had only taken part in the initial assaults before mysteriously pulling out of the battle and leaving their allies to fight the war.

"It is a possibility Da'an.  I cannot think of any other reason for the sudden increase in Jaridian communications traffic.  I believe that you should alert the Synod to the possibility."

"Indeed," Da'an agreed he gestured at the datalog that Liam was carrying.  "Is that the information."  Liam nodded and put it down on the table.  "I will present it to the Synod.  Hopefully if you are right the Jaridians will not attack until after this business with _Voyager is concluded.  I don't want to potentially drag the Federation into another war – they're only now picking themselves up from the Dominion war."  _

Liam nodded in agreement.  They both knew about the Dominion war that had raged in the Alpha Quadrant.  The Synod did make it a point to keep an eye on events in that part of the galaxy mainly on events that involved Humans.

"We just need to get Captain Janeway's recorded message," Liam said changing the subject back to _Voyager.  "Then the __Shutari can get underway for Earth."_

"Captain Janeway did call just before you came to see me.  Her message is ready I said I would send someone to _Voyager to go and get it."_

"I'll go and get it myself Da'an."  Da'an inclined his head slightly.

"You like Captain Janeway don't you Liam," he questioned.

"Yes," Liam admitted knowing full well that denying it would gain him nothing.  He been friends with Da'an for all of his three hundred and sixty-seven years of life.  Consequently he could read Da'an like a book and Da'an could do the same with him.  "She's a strong resourceful woman.  She kind of reminds me of Renee."

Da'an smiled sadly at the mention of Renee Palmer.  She'd come with them when they'd left Earth – actually she'd come with Liam.  Liam and Renee had married and spent the last sixty years of Renee's life together – they'd had a number of children together, their second child Ronald was currently an aide to Zo'or as his namesake Liam's Human father Ronald Sandoval had been before his death at the hands of anti-Taelon fanatics on Earth.  They could have extended Renee's life by transferring her consciousness into a new hybrid body but she'd refused preferring to have the normal Human life span that she'd always accepted would be all the time she would ever have with Liam.

"Yes she does seem a lot like Renee Palmer," Da'an agreed.  "Strong, determined and resourceful."

"I suppose she'd had to be to keep her crew alive.  I mean this quadrant of the galaxy is not the most benign of palaces.  Especially for a single ship.  The fact that they've survived as long as they have – especially considering the enemies they've bumped into – is most impressive."

"Yes it is," Da'an agreed.  "You had better go and get Captain Janeway's message Liam.  I meanwhile will inform the Synod of the potential new Jaridian threat."

*****

**U.S.S _Voyager_**

Captain Kathryn Janeway stood in _Voyager's airlock waiting patiently for whoever was coming to pick up the dataclip she was holding in her hand.  She was surprised when General Kincaid stepped through the airlock and onto __Voyager._

"General Kincaid this is a surprise," she said making the Taelon greeting gesture remembering that Taelons and hybrids didn't like the traditional Human handshake – she knew that it had something to do with the shaqarava though what that something was she didn't know.  "I didn't expect you to come and pick up the message yourself," she continued.

"It was the least I could do Captain Janeway," Liam replied returning the greeting gesture.  "We consider this situation a great opportunity to open a friendship between the Taelon Empire and the Federation.  So I though I might as well take your message to the _Shutari myself."_

"We are honoured that you think so," Janeway replied as she handed him the clip.  "Here you go."

"Thank you," Liam replied.  "I will take it to Captain Ramirez immediately."

"Thank you," Janeway replied.  Liam turned and started back to the airlock then he turned and looked back at Captain Janeway.

"Captain Janeway please call me Liam," he said after a moment then he left before she could respond.

Barely ten minutes later the heavy cruiser _Shutari slipped her moorings and pulled away from the station.  A second later she engaged her interdimensional drive and vanished from the Ya'sa'ra system on course for the system the Federation referred to as Sector 001, on course for Earth._


	8. Chapter 8

****

When Worlds Collide

Chapter Eight

Sector 001

A Few Hours Later

The _Shutari_ dropped out of interdimensional space near the orbit of Mars so as not to startle anyone by just appearing in orbit of Earth. The Taelons knew full well that the last time an alien warship had abruptly appeared in Earth orbit it had been a fleet of Breen warships on a mission to attack Starfleet Headquarters – something that not even the Klingons had had the audacity to attempt. That attack had been only partially successful, Earth's planetary defence grid and patrolling Home Fleet warships had swiftly engaged and obliterated the Breen force – but serious damage had been done to the Headquarters complex and to San Francisco – killing thousands many of them civilians. Ever since then Starfleet had been very jittery about non-Federation warships just appearing in Earth orbit – even ships from the Klingon and Romulan Empires, who were both still allied to the Federation, came out of warp some distance away from planetary orbit and came in on impulse power to avoid scaring anyone.

Nevertheless the _Shutari's_ sudden appearance near Mars startled the Home Fleet. Almost immediately the nearest starship the Akira-class cruiser _Reliant_ moved to intercept the ship that had so suddenly appeared.

*****

****

Bridge

U.S.S _Reliant_

Captain La'vaya studied the alien ship on his view screen as the _Reliant_ closed upon the vessel. It was a big ship he noticed readouts showed it to be seven hundred and twenty meters long – fifty meters longer than a Sovereign-class starship like the _Enterprise, Sovereign, Dauntless _or _Excalibur_ which were the only Sovereigns currently in the fleet though four more were nearing completion at Utopia Planetia – which the alien was dangerously close to. The aliens mass was also concerning and so was the estimated firepower that it seemed to be carrying. The sensors showed the presence of twenty phaser banks each on the port and starboard sides of the vessel, ten disruptor banks of unknown kind forward and aft and fourteen torpedo banks spread out in a four forward, four aft, three port, three starboard arrangement. Fortunately sensors showed no activity or energy readings present in the alien warships weapons. Whatever it's mission was it didn't seem to be aggressive.

"We're coming into weapons range of the alien ship captain," tactical reported.

"Any luck identifying it?"

"I believe so. The databanks show it to be a Taelon warship." La'vaya threw a startled glance at his first officer. The _Taelons!_ Like many people he knew very little about the enigmatic Taelons. The Federation had only encountered them once – and the exact details of that contact were classified – but what was generally known was that the Taelons were an extremely old and highly advanced race and that always with them were a race that was an offshoot of Humans, like Romulans were an offshoot of Vulcans. Except in the case of these Human offshoots they appeared to be a hybrid race that was both Human and Taelon, and that these hybrids dominated the Taelon military. No one in the Federation or elsewhere knew how that could be as there had been no recorded contact between Humans and aliens prior to first contact with the Vulcans.

"Sir the Taelon ship is scanning us," the operations officer reported. The incoming signal chirp sounded. "They're hailing us."

"On screen."

La'vaya was startled when a Human face appeared on the view screen – immediately La'vaya realised that he wasn't looking at a Human at all but at one of the hybrids. The hybrid looked equally startled at the sight of him. As a species his people – the Vordashi – were used to it. Physically they were bear-like in form indeed they had evolved from a bear-analogue. To Human eyes they appeared to be living, breathing, talking teddy bears, something that caused Vordashi no end of amusement.

"I am Captain La'vaya of the Federation starship _Reliant_," La'vaya began.

"Captain Enrique Ramirez of the Taelon Defence Force," the hybrid responded. "Commanding the cruiser _Shutari_. I carry an urgent message for Starfleet Command."

"A message from whom," La'vaya asked. He was not expecting the hybrids answer.

"_Voyager_."

*****

****

U.S.S _Voyager_

Ya'sa'ra System

The Doctor looked up from his office computer at the sound of the sickbay doors opening. He had been taking advantage of the quiet time he was having at the moment to start organising a schedule for the crews next round of physicals – and wondering how he was going to convince Captain Janeway to take hers as usual – the woman despised physicals like most officers and tried every trick in the book – and a few that weren't – to get out of it.

Lieutenant's Paris and Torres came into his office. Lieutenant Paris didn't look that well – not sick it looked from the way that he was occasionally wincing at the light that he had a nasty headache. The Doctor should have expected it. Tom and B'Elanna had only recently come back aboard from a picnic on the surface of Ya'sa'ra. Several other crewmen and women upon their return from Ya'sa'ra had complained about headaches. When he'd queried the captain about it she'd called Da'an who seemed a little surprised but assured them both that it was nothing other than a harmless reaction to some elements in Ya'sa'ra's atmosphere which did have slightly more carbon dioxide present than normal for class-M planets.

"Lieutenant you don't look well," he commented standing up from behind his desk and picking up his medical tricorder. "Headache?"

"Yes," Tom responded. "I've had it since we came back from the planet."

"I see. Several other crew members have returned from the planet with headaches – according to Da'an it has something to do with the slightly elevated carbon dioxide levels and some other unusual but harmless elements in Ya'sa'ra's atmosphere." To be sure that it was merely a reaction he scanned Paris with the tricorder. Then frowned. _What the-?_ he thought. He hadn't seen this reading in any of the other crew who'd returned from Ya'sa'ra. Tom Paris' bioreadings had changed slightly.

"What is it?" Tom asked noting the look on the Doctors face.

"I don't know," the Doctor responded. "Your bioreadings have changed."

"Changed! How?" B'Elanna demanded to know speaking just before her husband could ask the same questions.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "Come over to the surgical bay so I can run a more in depth scan." Quickly he led them over to the surgical bay.

Paris lay down on the surgical biobed. The Doctor activated the biobed scanner which immediately rose from its normal slots inside the bed holding Tom down as it began running a detailed scan. The Doctor blinked startled and concerned when he saw the results.

"What is it Doc," Tom demanded to know from where he was lying down.

"Lieutenant were you exposed to any energy fields or the like when you were on the planet," he asked.

"No," Tom and B'Elanna said in unison. "At least I don't think so," Tom continued. "Why?" The Doctor paused as he always did when he was uncertain how to say something.

"It's the Taelon DNA in your system," he said finally.

"What about it?" Tom asked wondering what on Earth the dormant Taelon genes in his system had to do with him having a headache. Those genes – which the Taelons hadn't been able to completely remove since they were already deeply interwoven with his DNA – had never caused any problems before.

"It's starting to become active again," the Doctor replied. Both Tom and B'Elanna's eyes went wide and Tom would have sat up to stair at the Doctor if it hadn't been for the scanner holding him down.

"What!" Tom breathed. Then he went pale as the realisation dawned. Was he going to be a hybrid again? No way did he want that. He couldn't withstand the pain of such a change in him again.

"How is this possible," B'Elanna demanded.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied even as he went and filled a hypospray with medication and walked back over to a still stunned Tom Paris. "This will counteract your headache," he said as he injected the hyposprays contents into Tom's neck. "I'll need to keep you here lieutenant see if I can stop whatever's causing your Taelon DNA to reactivate." Tom nodded.

"If anyone can figure out what's going on then you can," he commented even as he felt his headache fade away to nothing only to be replaced by anxiety.

"I'll also have to call the captain," the Doctor said grateful that he was incapable of blushing otherwise his cheeks would be red at Paris' faith in him. A faith shared by the whole crew whose health was his responsibility. Tom nodded in agreement – Captain Janeway would have to be told so she could possibly get help from the Taelons. And if neither of them could stop what was happening to him again then the other members of the senior staff would have to be told as well.

The Doctor lowered the scanner unit freeing Tom's torso and left to speak to Captain Janeway. B'Elanna Torres immediately went to her husband's side and took his right hand in hers and held it reassuringly. Whatever happened now she would face it with him. This time he wouldn't be on his own.

*****

****

Theoretical Propulsion Section

Daystrom Institute, Earth

Doctor Leah Brahms went through her things one last time to make sure that she had everything. She was both excited and worried about the task that she was going to face when she got to the Delta Quadrant courtesy of the Taelon cruiser _Shutari_ which was currently sitting in high orbit of the planet. Adapting Taelon interdimensional technology to work on a Federation starship was going to be a hell of a challenge. A challenge she wasn't sure that she was really up to. _Stop it Leah,_ she told herself, _you've never really doubted your abilities before don't start now. And you were head of the team that designed the warp engines for both the Intrepid and Sovereign-class starships. Your knowledge of their systems is going to be necessary if you're to get the Taelons ID technology to work_.

A knock came at the door. Leah looked up.

"Come in," she called. The old fashioned oak door opened and Geordie LaForge poked his head through and she smiled warmly at him. Her husband had divorced her nearly six years ago now during that time her friendship with the _Enterprise_ chief engineer had grown into a relationship – especially in the year he'd been here while the _Enterprise-E_ had been awaiting completion after the destruction of her predecessor. He was here on leave and she had been going to spend it with him until Starfleet Command had called her and asked if she would mind going to the Delta Quadrant with some other propulsion specialists – many of whom she'd worked with before – to help adapt Taelon interdimensional propulsion technology to work with Federation technology. Relishing the challenge she'd agreed to go but had insisted on Geordie coming with her – since Geordie was a brilliant engineer himself and would make a valuable additive to her development team if she could ever entice him out of Starfleet. Geordie had been as keen on joining her as she'd been keen on having him with them – and after okaying it with Captain Picard – had agreed to come.

"Ready Leah?" he asked his own satchel slung over his shoulder.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she confessed as she picked up her satchel and slung it over her shoulders. "Let's go." Geordie smiled and tapped his combadge.

"LaForge to _Shutari_. Two to transport."

"Acknowledged," the soft lyrical voice of a Taelon said in response. For a moment nothing happened then an alien transporter beam locked onto them both. The lab vanished in a haze of blue light and for a second their was the usual sensation of nothingness that accompanied being transported then the shimmering blue light resolved into a room of alien design and construction clearly on the _Shutari_.

Standing in the room with them were the rest of the science and diplomacy team that was being sent to Ya'sa'ra. From the science side of the team Leah recognised T'vren of the Vulcan Academy of Science, the Klingon scientist Gorak, and Lieutenant Reginald Barclay on the diplomatic side she recognised Ambassador Vales and Admiral Owen Paris who had personal as well as diplomatic reasons for being on this mission.

"Ah good your all here," a voice said. Leah and Geordie both turned to see a short man dressed in a Taelon jumpsuit with the military belt, sash and shoulder tabs coming into the room. Geordie immediately recognised Captain Ramirez. "Welcome aboard the _Shutari_," Ramirez continued. "For those of you that don't know me I'm Captain Ramirez I'll be your host for our short trip to Ya'sa'ra."

"I would hardly call twenty-seven thousand light years a short trip Captain Ramirez," Admiral Paris pointed out.

"In interdimensional space it is admiral. This ship can cross the void between galaxies in a week or so. We will reach Ya'sa'ra in just over four hours at the speeds this ship is capable of attaining."

"Remarkable," T'vren commented. "How long have the Taelons possessed this interdimensional technology Captain Ramirez."

"Millions of years. Around four million years to be exact." 

Leah shook her head in amazement at the incomprehensible age of the Taelons. By anyone's standards they were ancient much older than any of the known races save the annoying Q. They had become old before any of their races had evolved.

"We should get underway now," Ramirez said the waved his hand opening a datastream. A Taelon appeared. "Vu'ul lay in a course for Ya'sa'ra and engage the ID drive."

"As you wish," Vu'ul responded the Ramirez waved away the datastream.

For a few moments their was silence except for the living background sounds of the ship. Then there was a powerful hum and a jolt. Through the view port on the far side of the room space suddenly transformed into a glowing, rippling tunnel of multicoloured light. The hum of power died back down.

They were on their way. Travelling at speeds that to the science and diplomatic team was incomprehensible.


	9. Chapter 9

****

When Worlds Collide

****

Chapter Nine

Captain's Ready Room

U.S.S _Voyager_

Captain Kathryn Janeway was starting to get frustrated. She'd tried calling Da'an three times only to get a polite response from this hybrid or another saying that Da'an was currently in a emergency meeting of the Taelon Synod and would not be available until that meeting was concluded. She was about to give up when a call came in from the station.

Hoping that it was Da'an at last she put it through. But the face on her screen wasn't Da'an's instead she found herself looking at Liam Kincaid's handsome features.

"Captain Janeway I understand that you've been making quiet a pain of yourself with our communications ratings trying to get through to Da'an. Unfortunately he is as you have been told in a Synod meeting at present. Perhaps I can help you with whatever problem you have."

"I hope so Gen.… I mean Liam," she said remembering at the last minute to use his given name. "It concerns one of my crew Lieutenant Thomas Paris."

"I am familiar with the individual of whom you speak captain…"

"Kathryn please," she interrupted. "After all if you want me to use your given name then you might as well use mine."

"Very well Kathryn it is. Now as I was saying I am familiar with Lieutenant Paris. I believe he was subjected eleven years ago to crude and cruel Cardassian medical experiments using DNA taken from the survivor of a crashed Taelon ship before he died. He was partially transformed into a hybrid if I recall the incident correctly. He would have become a full hybrid if Captain Ju'su and the _Da'shi'ri_ hadn't rescued him and treated him for what the Cardassians did."

"Yes that's the one," Janeway agreed surprised that Liam seemed to know so much about that incident. "I'm afraid that there is a serious problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Somehow the Taelon DNA left in Tom's system has begun to become active again." On the screen Liam's eyes went wide.

"That shouldn't be possible," Liam responded. "Most of the Taelon DNA was removed from his system. The only reason some DNA was left behind is because it had become so deeply interwoven with his genetic structure that we dare not remove it for fear of doing irreparable genetic damage. But that DNA was completely suppressed by our medical personnel. There should be no way for it to reactivate."

"Well it is. This didn't show up until Tom returned from the surface of Ya'sa'ra and went to sickbay complaining of a headache. Could the environment on the planet have caused this to happen?"

"I'm no medic but that is highly unlikely there are no elements present in Ya'sa'ra's atmosphere capable of affecting DNA structures on even a basic level. If there had been we would have warned you."

"Then what's causing it?"

"I don't know. The Taelon healer and scientist Mit'gai is currently on the surface of Ya'sa'ra setting up a new biomedical research facility. I will call him up here to the station and bring him across to your ship. Perhaps he can help answer this particular puzzle."

"My Doctor is very good. But any assistance that you can provide would be most appreciated Liam thank you."

"It is no problem at all." For a few moments Liam went quiet. Janeway got the impression that he was talking telepathically to someone. "I've just spoken to Mit'gai through the Commonality," Liam confirmed. _What the hell is the Commonality,_ Janeway thought, _somekind of telepathic link?_ "Mit'gai will transport up to the station as soon as he can get his things together. We will be coming aboard your ship shortly. I look forward to seeing you face to face again Kathryn. Kincaid out." Liam disappeared from her desk screen. 

Deactivating the terminal Janeway stood up and left the ready room heading across the nearly deserted bridge to the turbolift and disappeared inside.

Commander Chakotay watched silently from the first officers chair. Kathryn was worried about something or someone that was obvious in her manner but what or who was she worried about and why. Silently Chakotay made up his mind to ask her later. Assuming of course she would tell him since she could be as stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be.

*****

****

Sickbay

Kathryn Janeway arrived at sickbay a few moments after leaving the bridge. Immediately upon entering sickbay she moved up to the surgical bay where Tom was lying on the biobed B'Elanna hovering concerned nearby. The Doctor was running repeated scans of Tom's body trying to understand what had caused the Taelon DNA in Tom's body to reactivate and what the Taelon DNA was doing now.

"Have you found anything," she asked as she reached the biobed and glanced down at Tom. He looked terrible. His skin was covered in sweat and flushed bright red as if he had a fever and he also seemed to be shivering. Yet he did not appear to be in any pain – if he was in pain then he was doing a good job of hiding it.

"Plenty," the Doctor replied. "I believe I have found what's caused Mr Paris' Taelon DNA to reactivate." He led her over to the diagnostic console. Pressing a couple of controls the Doctor made an image appear on the console screen, an image of some sort of virus.

"A virus," Janeway exclaimed.

"Precisely. My analysis of the virus shows that it's been in Mr Paris' system for quiet sometime quietly replicating. I estimate initial infection occurred several weeks ago."

"When we were on the Galaki homeworld."

"Yes. Ordinarily this virus would not be a threat to anyone on the crew," the Doctor replied. "For all that its an insidious little buggar. The virus structure is almost identical to Terran influenza, which Humans became immune to three hundred years ago – it was one of the few beneficial mutations that resulted from the Third World War. The virus structure is close enough for the Human immune system to recognise and destroy immediately."

"So why am I being affected," Tom asked weakly from the biobed.

"My guess is that the virus somehow hooked itself onto your Taelon DNA," the Doctor answered. "In effect your Taelon DNA hid it from your immune system. Now that the virus has become active your immune system is destroying it in the normal manner which explains your fever. Almost all of it is gone already. But the virus becoming active has had an unexpected affect. In becoming active it also activated the dormant Taelon DNA."

"Is the crew in any danger from this virus doctor?" Janeway asked.

"No. The virus isn't airborne. It appears to be passed by drinking infected water. No one else on the crew is at risk. As for the Taelon part of Mr Paris' DNA that is rapidly becoming fully active. Only a small part was activated by the virus but its started a cascade reaction in the rest of it. It's only a matter of time before all the Taelon DNA becomes active."

"And when that happens I'll become a hybrid again," Tom said shuddering at the prospect.

"I'm afraid so at least you'll be a partial hybrid as you don't have a full strand of Taelon genetic material just a large part of one. Cellular structures inside you are already starting to change. It's only a matter of time."

"Can you stop it," B'Elanna asked.

"I don't know. Taelon DNA is completely different in structure to the DNA of carbon based lifeforms. Like the Taelons themselves it's more energy than anything else. I don't know enough about it to give you an answer."

"A Taelon scientist and physician is on his way here," Janeway informed him. "I called the station as soon as you told me what was happening to Tom. He should be able to help."

Before the Doctor could respond the diagnostic console gave a bleep. At the same time Tom emitted a strangled gasp.

"Tom," B'Elanna yelped in alarm. 

Janeway and the Doctor darted back over to the biobed. Tom was convulsing sharply on the bed his facial features contorted in agony. To everyone's shock a energy pulse erupted from deep within his body making Tom glow bright blue. After what seemed like an eternity though in reality it was barely three seconds the energy burst faded away and the convulsion stopped. The agony evaporated from Tom's face somewhat though it didn't fade altogether. Tom opened his eyes again gasping to get his breath back and trembling with the after-effects of the convulsion.

"Not this again," Tom wailed quietly. "I cannot face it again." B'Elanna came back to her husbands side and gently reached out and grasped his shoulder soothingly. The Doctor meanwhile scanned Tom with his medical tricorder. He was surprised by what he saw. Somehow during that convulsion a dozen separate energy pathways had appeared in Tom's body and the scan also revealed shaqarava starting to form once more in Tom's hands though they weren't yet linked to the internal energy pathways. The changes were incredibly sudden, quiet dramatic, and very traumatic to the surrounding cell structures. It was no wonder that it was painful.

"Security to Captain Janeway," a voice said over the intercom. Janeway tapped her combadge.

"Janeway here."

"Baxter here captain. I'm at the airlock. General Kincaid and a Taelon are here and requesting permission to come aboard."

"Request granted. Escort them to sickbay Mr Baxter."

"Aye captain."

"Hopefully that Taelon healer will be able to help," B'Elanna commented.

"We can hope," Tom agreed his voice still very weak and with a hint of pain present in it. "After all they were able to help before….arrgghh." Another convulsion abruptly wracked his body. As before energy flared from deep within him making him glow blue. The convulsion dragged on and on. Just when it seemed that Tom would not be able to endure anymore it stopped and the energy flash once more faded away. Tom gasped shaking violently – more pain was noticeable on his face now.

"Can't you give him anything for the pain," B'Elanna asked the Doctor.

"I don't know if anything will work but we can try," the Doctor responded moving over to his medicine rack that was always kept full. Selecting a strong painkiller the Doctor slotted the appropriate cartridge into a hypospray and turned around to return to the surgical bay. To see that Tom had pushed himself up onto his elbows and was looking straight at the palms of his hands which were glowing with swirling blue energy. Janeway and B'Elanna were also staring at the glowing shaqarava – it was one thing to hear about the shaqarava quiet another to actually see someone with them glowing. Particularly if that someone – like Tom Paris – hadn't been born with them. It just somehow didn't seem right in Tom – didn't seem quiet natural.

The Doctor coaxed his legs into motion at that and returned to the surgical bay just as Tom flexed his fingers and made the shaqarava stop glowing.

"Glad I still remember how to do that," Tom commented his voice thick with the pain he was experiencing.

"This will help with the pain," _I hope,_ the Doctor added to himself as he placed the hypospray against Tom's neck and injected the drug. Almost immediately Tom felt the fiery pain that was burning through him fade away to a distant background ache. He sighed in relief then lay back down grateful for the respite all the while wondering how long it would be before the next convulsion came and what that would do to him. 

At that moment the sickbay doors opened and Baxter came through followed by Liam Kincaid and a Taelon who wore a white smock over his blue jumpsuit. The Taelon also carried a small bag – presumably the Taelon equivalent of a medkit. Baxter then left at a gesture from Janeway to return to his duty station.

"Captain Janeway," Liam said formally. "This is Mit'gai one of our most prominent healers and scientists."

"I hope that I am able to be of assistance," Mit'gai said smoothly as he to came up followed by General Kincaid. "Could someone please explain to me what has happened so far."

Quickly the Doctor explained everything that had happened in the thirty minutes or so that had passed since Tom and B'Elanna had come into sickbay – Tom complaining of a nasty headache and the discovery that the Taelon DNA left in his body was becoming active again. This Mit'gai already knew. But still his listened intently as the Doctor described how Tom had begun running a heavy fever and the discovery of the influenza-like virus that had hooked onto Tom's Taelon DNA reactivating a small part of it when the virus became active.

"The virus has been completely destroyed now," the Doctor concluded. "However Mr Paris' Taelon DNA has continued to reactivate itself. In the last ten to fifteen minutes Mr Paris has suffered two powerful convulsions each accompanied by an internal blast of energy. Each time new energy pathways and structures have formed."

"Yeah including these things," Tom held up a hand and Mit'gai immediately noticed the reddish shaqarava mark in his palm. He was so used to seeing them now that he no longer flinched at the sight of operational shaqarava. After all he regularly dealt with injured hybrids – all of whom had the shaqarava.

"I see," Mit'gai said fishing in his medkit for his scanner. "Your Taelon DNA should not have continued to activate after the virus was destroyed by your immune system. It should have gone dormant again. Something else must be going on."

Retrieving his scanner from its slot he proceeded to sweep it up and down Tom's body three times. Then stopped to analyse the findings. What he saw made him blush blue slightly in the Taelon equivalent of a frown.

"Curious," he said.

"What is," the Doctor demanded sweeping his own medical tricorder over Tom. He frowned at the results. "That's odd."

"Would someone please explain," Janeway demanded before either Tom or B'Elanna could do so.

"The antibodies released into Mr Paris' system to destroy the virus have had a secondary effect," Mit'gai told her calmly. "They've apparently adapted themselves to destroy the chemical elements we introduced into Mr Paris' bloodstream to repress those Taelon DNA traits that we to deeply integrated with Mr Paris' DNA to be removed safely. Without those chemical elements there is nothing to stop the Taelon DNA from becoming active once more. Which is what it is now doing."

"Can you stop it," Tom demanded.

"I'm afraid not," Mit'gai admitted. "The chemicals we introduced to your system were the only things capable of safely suppressing such deeply integrated genes. We could reintroduce the chemicals but it would do no good your body has become immune to them now." Tom's shoulders slumped as his worst fears were confirmed.

"Then there is nothing that you can…arrgghh." A third powerful convulsion abruptly wracked Tom's body as always accompanied by a surge of energy.

Liam immediately exploded into movement. Quickly he darted around to the head of the bed and placed his shaqarava close to Tom's head and allowed them to activate. Janeway, the Doctor and B'Elanna immediately noticed something strange. The colour of Liam's shaqarava energy was different to the blue energy that was apparently normal for Taelon shaqarava. Instead of blue his glowed a pinkish-white. The energy immediately seemed to have an effect.

The pain on Tom's face faded even as the convulsion continued dragging on and on. Liam closed his eyes in concentration. Inhibiting pain like this was a great strain on him. Immediately he felt Mit'gai, Da'an and the rest of the Commonality reach out mentally to him providing him with the additional strength he needed.

After what seemed like an age he felt Tom's energy levels drop back down and the convulsion stop. Liam stopped what he was doing and immediately crumpled exhausted by the energy expenditure to his knees. Deactivating his shaqarava he took a number of deep breaths before climbing back to his feet.

__

(_Are you all right Liam?_) Mit'gai asked telepathically knowing full well that blocking pain reception to such a degree was a strain on the Kimera hybrid. The fact that Liam was a Kimera hybrid not a Taelon one didn't bother him or any other Taelon. Once they'd found out what he was three hundred and sixty-five years ago it hadn't bothered them at all. In fact his existence had intrigued them more than anything and his help had been instrumental in solving both the core energy crisis and the sterility problems.

(_I'll be all right in a few minutes,_) Liam replied. (_It's just been awhile since I did that._)

(_Yes I remember. The last time was the birth of your great-granddaughter wasn't it?_)

(_Yes._)

Liam pulled himself back together feeling better already.

"Are you all right," Janeway asked eyeing Liam in concern.

"I'm fine just blocking pain reception like that is not easy."

"I'm grateful for it thank you," Tom said weakly. He looked straight at Mit'gai. "How many more of these things am I going to go through?" Mit'gai used his scanner again.

"None," he responded after a moment. "That last energy surge was the last one you will experience. The last of the residual DNA has reactivated itself. You're now three quarters Human and one quarter Taelon."

Tom slumped back onto the biobed in a mixture of relief and resignation. Relief that he wouldn't suffer any more pain – the residual ache from all the changes were already fading away. Resignation at being once more a hybrid something that he had never wanted to be but would now have to learn to live with.

"So what happens now," he asked.

"Nothing. You have a few things to learn," Mit'gai said. "Like how to control your shaqarava properly. Somehow I don't think anyone on board would appreciate you accidentally blowing a hole in the side of the ship."

"Least of all me," B'Elanna commented. "Since I'd have to fix it."

"Fortunately learning to control shaqarava is relatively easy when you've got someone to teach you and holographic exercises designed for that purpose," Liam said. "Unlike me you are going to have someone to teach you how. Any of us can tell you how."

"What do you mean unlike you," B'Elanna asked.

"Liam was one of the first hybrids," Mit'gai said. "He had to learn how to control his powers completely on his own as we couldn't help. Our shaqarava haven't worked for millions of years at least not in the way that they originally did. We can only join telepathically or sharing thoughts or feelings with others through ours. We can't throw energy bolts or generate shields, heal injuries that sort of thing like hybrids like Liam can. In addition Liam had the problem of being much more powerful than regular hybrids."

"Why is that," Janeway asked.

"Because I'm not a Taelon hybrid," Liam answered.

"Liam is the last of his kind and also the first real hybrid," Mit'gai said. "He is the last child of an ancient race called the Kimera. A race who were our friends and teachers aeons ago before they died off." He didn't say that it had been the Taelons who destroyed the Kimera. The shame of admitting that would be too great.

"So your alone?"

"No," Liam replied. "I'm not alone. The Taelons were the children of the Kimera so to speak so while I'm around them and around other hybrids I'm never lonely or anything like that."

"What can I expect to happen now," Tom asked.

"Nothing much. You do have the shaqarava," Liam replied. "And all the powers that come with them. And you might find that the telepathic and telekinetic abilities that lay dormant in full Humans might be active in you I don't know yet. Physically your now considerably stronger. Your lifespan will be that of a normal Human you won't live for a thousand years or so like I will or for a few centuries like other Taelon/Human hybrids do."

"Good I wouldn't want to," Tom said he glanced over at B'Elanna and carefully reached out to take her hand. "I wouldn't want to live for three hundred or so years without B'Elanna." B'Elanna blushed even as her hand and Tom's touched. A jolt of shock abruptly rippled through her as she suddenly sensed Tom's being and his equal jolt of shock when he sensed her. They both heard a chuckle from both Liam and Captain Janeway.

"What's so funny," Tom demanded to know letting go of B'Elanna's hand which made the awareness stop.

"Nothing just the look on your faces," Liam replied. "You just shared inadvertently. You'll learn eventually how to stop that happening. It's easy when you know how. And theirs another thing. Your husband and wife yes?"

"Yes."

"The Taelon part of you wants to create a kind of mental link between you and your wife," Mit'gai told Tom. "It always happens when one of us or a hybrid chooses a mate. It's called the _va'ruu_. The closest term in English would be love bond. When a bond forms both partners are aware of where the other is. You can even talk telepathically to each other through the bond and share images and feelings if you so chose. Alternatively you can block each other out and simply just be aware of each other. It will form weather you want it to our not. It's instinct."

"Interesting," the Doctor commented. "If my database is correct the Vulcans have a similar thing when they take a mate."

"I'm afraid that I am not very familiar with the Vulcans," Mit'gai admitted. "We never encountered them when we were in your part of this galaxy. So I'll take your word for it. But it would be a natural thing for a telepathic species." At that moment Tom yawned loudly. "Am I boring you Mr Paris?"

"No I'm tired," Tom admitted.

"That's no surprise," Mit'gai commented. "Considering what you've just been through. You'll go to sleep soon and will stay asleep for quiet sometime. Your body is exhausted."

"Then you must all leave to let Mr Paris get some sleep," the Doctor said his tone making it clear that it was an order.

"Someone will come aboard later to help you learn to control your new powers lieutenant," Mit'gai said as he put his scanner away before starting for the door with Liam at his side.

Janeway watched them go, she was about to leave when a word from Tom stopped her.

"Captain," he said. She turned to face him and gave him an enquiring look. "I think that it's time that the rest of the senior staff learns what happened to me in the past," Tom said. "And what I am now."

"You're sure."

"Yes. They have the right to know."

"Very well then I'll tell them."

"Thank you."

"Pleasant dreams Tom," Janeway said then left the room. She waited outside for a few moments then B'Elanna joined her having stayed behind to say goodnight to her husband. She didn't look happy about spending tonight on her own – not that it was ships night yet but late afternoon. Janeway then tapped her combadge. "All senior staff bar the Doctor and Lieutenant Paris report for briefing," she ordered then closed the channel. "Let's go," she said to B'Elanna who nodded back. Together they headed for the turbolift.


	10. Chapter 10

****

When Worlds Collide

****

Chapter Ten

Briefing Room

Captain Janeway and B'Elanna Torres got to the briefing room to find the rest of the senior staff – with the notable exceptions of Lieutenant Paris and the Doctor – already present and looking at them in curiosity. Only Tuvok looked unconcerned – but Janeway knew her Vulcans. Tuvok would be just as curious as everyone else.

"Good afternoon," Janeway said moving to sit at the head of the table in her usual place. B'Elanna took her normal place as well. "I know your all wondering why I have asked to speak to you all and why Lieutenant Paris and the Doctor are not here. That will become clear in a moment.

"Now what I am about to tell you concerns a past incident that is deeply personal to Mr Paris. I am only speaking of it now because he has given me permission to do so and because it now has a direct bearing on him. You see Tom Paris is a hybrid."

"What," Commander Chakotay exclaimed exchanging astonished looks with Harry, Neelix and Seven. Tuvok was composed but he could tell that the Vulcan was surprised. B'Elanna though looked unmoved – she'd clearly already know. "A Human/Taelon hybrid?" he asked.

"To be exact Tom is three quarters Human and one quarter Taelon," B'Elanna said. "But he wasn't always a hybrid."

"What do you mean," Seven of Nine asked.

"Let me explain," Janeway said drawing attention back to her. "It started eleven years ago during the last days of the Federation/Cardassian Boarder Wars."

Calmly she explained everything. How a green young ensign named Tom Paris had gone to Risa on vacation after graduating from Starfleet Academy. How he'd been seduced and kidnapped by a Cardassian spy and taken to Karus Rusal's research base. She explained about the Taelon ship that had gone down in Cardassian space – how DNA had been taken by the Cardassians before the Taelon survivor died, how Rusal had come into possession of that DNA and discovered it to be compatible with Human DNA. She explained how Rusal had injected that DNA into Tom just to see what would happen. She explained how Tom had begun to change into a hybrid – how he'd eventually used his forming shaqarava to kill Rusal and escape. The pursuit by Gul Yurad and Tom's rescue by the Taelon cruiser _Da'shi'ri_. How Tom had been turned back into a Human by the Taelons, how they'd been forced to leave some Taelon DNA in him just dormant and how the _Da'shi'ri_ had intercepted the _Al-Batani_ just to return Tom to his father. She explained a little about the emotional aftermath, the depression that Tom had suffered for nearly two years afterwards.

Then she described what had happened here today – how the alien flu bug that Tom had picked up on the Galaki homeworld had latched onto the dormant Taelon DNA. How a few hours ago now the virus had become active bringing some of the Taelon DNA with it. How the virus had swiftly been neutralised by Tom's immune system whose antibodies unfortunately also adapted to neutralise the chemical elements in Tom's blood that kept his Taelon DNA dormant. How Tom had rapidly changed back into a hybrid albeit a hybrid who was largely Human.

All in all it took about twelve minutes to explain it all. When she was done the other members of the senior staff were silent not sure what to think. Janeway noticed that Chakotay, Harry, Neelix and even Seven looked angry at what the Cardassians had done to Tom all those years ago. Tuvok looked calm but Janeway wouldn't like to speculate what emotions churned beneath his Vulcan calm.

"So now Tom's a hybrid again," Harry Kim stated.

"Yes," B'Elanna replied. "Neither of us are happy about it but we cannot do anything about it. A hybrid will be coming over to _Voyager_ probably tomorrow to help Tom learn how to control the powers he now has – especially the shaqarava."

"Cannot the Taelons turn Mr Paris back into a Human again like they did the first time?" Tuvok asked.

"I'm afraid not," Janeway replied. "The antibodies that destroyed the flu virus would immediately detect the chemicals and identify them as an invading force and immediately neutralise them. The exact same mechanism that prevents Humans getting the same disease twice would work against any attempt made to suppress the remaining Taelon DNA."

"We can't the Taelons remove the DNA altogether?" Harry asked.

"It's not that simple. Taelon DNA is nothing like ours or any other humanoids. Its as much and organised energy pattern as anything else. The Taelons were able to remove almost all of it when Tom was taken aboard the _Da'shi'ri_. The only part left behind was that part that contained genes that had already to tightly interwoven themselves with Tom's Human DNA. Any attempt to remove them would have run too much of a risk of shattering his DNA structure. The only thing the Taelons could do was suppress the genes in question. Now even that option is closed to them."

"How is Tom taking all this," Neelix asked.

"Not too badly," B'Elanna admitted. "At the moment he's still somewhat stunned by at all, and completely exhausted from the sudden change – I mean he went from a full Human to a hybrid in less than an hour. He's resigned to being a hybrid for the rest of his life as well. One thing is for sure were all going to have to be here for him if he needs us. And I suspect that he's going to need us a lot in coming days and weeks."

Their were nods all around in response to B'Elanna's comments. They'd be here for Tom Paris when he needed them. They were his friends and B'Elanna's friends as well. They would need whatever support that they could provide for there were bound to be rough patches ahead for them.

"Bridge to Captain Janeway," a voice said over the intercom. Janeway tapped her combadge.

"Janeway here."

"Captain our sensors are picking a small subspace distortion."

"Of what kind?"

"Unknown. It looks similar to a cloaking device – we're only detecting it because of the Borg sensors and even those are having great difficulty locking onto it."

"How many contacts?"

"Just one. Whatever it is its very small. Possibly a probe." Janeway looked at her senior staff.

"Stations," she ordered and they scrambled to their feet heading for the doors. Janeway then spoke into her combadge again. "We'll be right out," she said.

*****

The Jaridian probe sneaked into the Taelon controlled Ya'sa'ra system with great care. The last thing the Empire wanted was to alert the Taelon Defence Force as to what the target of their first great assault of the second Taelon war was going to be now that the Empire had finished dealing with the annoying insurrectionist distraction in several dozen sectors on the far side of the Empire. So the probe approached with a level of caution unusual for Jaridians.

Quickly it began to move about its mission to survey enemy defences and deployments prior to the arrival of the fleet which was waiting deep in Delkari controlled space waiting for the order to go. The probe noted the number and type of warships in the system – there were at least forty large warships that it could detect and one mothership, which was sticking close to a large orbital station. The orbital space of Ya'sa'ra was packed with a large number of defence platforms each one mounting a heavy Taelon disruptor cannon and protected by strong shields. All in all it was exactly the firepower that the Delkari had told them to expect protecting Ya'sa'ra – though the presence of the mothership had not been anticipated, not that one mothership was a cause for real concern despite its heavy weapons.

Data mismatch. The probe was picking up a non-Taelon signature docked to the orbital station. One ship definitely not Taelon in construction, design or origin. Quickly the probe scanned the vessel and compared its image to its databanks. The unknown vessel belonged to United Federation of Planets and conformed to the design of a Intrepid-class starship. Its presence had not been expected as all current intelligence showed that the Federation did not possess either transwarp or interdimensional technology. But it would not be a problem the probes AI knew. Intrepid-class Federation ships were well armed and very manoeuvrable – but this one was on its own without any support ships.

Tactical alert the probe was picking up a pair of Taelon cruisers coming its way on what was probably a patrol route. Soon enough they would be close enough for their sensors to detect it even with its cloaking device engaged and it would take but one shot from their weapons to destroy the probe.

Tactical subroutines indicated that its primary mission objective to scout the system had been completed – so the probe turned in space and began to accelerate away from the system – it would wait until it was in the shadow of one of the outer planets before going into ID space as it couldn't use its ID drive and its cloak at the same time. Quickly the probe activated its subspace communications array and sent a transmission to the fleet hiding the transmission with quantum interference – to the Taelons the transmission would simply look like an increase in background radiation. This way even if it were spotted now the fleet would know Ya'sa'ra's defences.

*****

**__**

Voyager

"The distortion has vanished from our sensors captain," Seven of Nine reported.

"Any idea what the distortion was," Janeway asked.

"Negative. Though from the size and the way it moved around I expect that it was a cloaked survey probe."

"Captain the Taelon cruiser dispatched to Federation space has just come out of ID space," Harry Kim reported. "They're moving into dock with the orbital station." The incoming signal chirp sounded. "The cruiser is hailing us. It's Admiral Paris he wants to talk to you."

"I'll take it in my ready room," she told Harry standing up. She would have to tell the admiral just what had just happened to his son and that was best done in private. "Chakotay you have the bridge." Chakotay nodded as Janeway headed into her ready room.

Janeway entered her ready room a few seconds later, walked around her desk and turned the terminal on just as she sat down. Admiral Owen Paris appeared on the small screen – he looked a little older than when Janeway had last seen him. There were new lines on his face – the product of worry for his son and the stress and strain of the Dominion war.

"Admiral it is good to see you again," she said calmly wondering how to broach the topic of Tom being a hybrid again with his father.

"Captain," Owen Paris acknowledged. "It is good to see you too." He paid close attention to her face. "Come on Kathryn out with whatever it is you have to tell me."

"No fooling you is there," she said jokingly.

"No. I've known you to long. Ever since you were a green ensign reporting to me for duty. So out with it. I know that you have something to tell me so what is it?"

"It's about Tom."

"What about him," the admiral demanded leaning closer. "Has something happened?"

"Something like that," she replied. "Before you ask he's alive and all right. It's just…"

Quickly she explained everything that had happened – telling him exactly what she had told her senior staff – though she left the bit with Rusal and the Cardassians out of it since Owen Paris already knew that bit. Idly she remembered how he'd reacted when the Taelons had told him – fortunately the cease fire had been signed by both sides by that point otherwise he would have taken the _Al-Batani_ across the boarder into Cardassian space gone to that research base and destroyed it – he'd been so angry at what the Cardassians had done to his son.

As she spoke the admiral's face reflected a variety of different emotions. Shock, surprise, and concern amongst others. When she finished speaking the admiral was quiet for several moments deep in thought. Finally he spoke up.

"We'll be docking with the orbital station in a few minutes," he said at last. "I'll come aboard _Voyager_ as soon as I am able to after we have docked. Paris out." The admiral disappeared from the screen then. Janeway considered what to do now. After a moment she decided that she would join the Taelon welcoming committee. But first she needed to find out which airlock the _Shutari_ was going to dock at. She tapped her combadge and hailed Ops.

"Harry hail the station and get me General Kincaid."

"Aye captain."

*****

**__**

Shutari

Admiral Owen Paris stood waiting for the cruiser to dock with concealed impatience. He wanted to get the formal greetings from the Taelons over and done with as quickly as possible so he could go aboard _Voyager_ and see his son for the first time in seven years. There was also the fact now that Tom needed him now that he'd found himself a hybrid again – he hadn't always been there when Tom needed him in the past much to his own sorrow – but he was determined to be there this time. Tom was going to need all the support he could get for quiet some time while he came to terms with what had happened to him and learned to control the powers and abilities that he now had as a result of becoming a hybrid.

The rest of the science and diplomacy team stood around him but he paid them little attention though he did make a point of noting their reactions to being here. Ambassador Vales was egar to get down to the work of negotiating with the Taelons, Dr Brahms, Gorak, Lt Comdr LaForge and Lt Barclay looked egar to get to work adapting the Taelons ID technology to work on _Voyager_, T'vren had the typical Vulcan calm look but he knew that the Vulcan would be just as egar as his fellow engineers and scientists to get his hands dirty helping adapt the ID technology.

A faint shiver ran through the cruisers bioslurry deck as they finally docked with the orbital station. A moment or two later Captain Ramirez joined them and led them to a seemingly blank section of wall. The hybrid made a gesture and the wall glowed and vanished revealing the interior of one of the stations docking arms.

"This way," he said leading them into the docking arm corridor.

A couple of moments later they were exiting the docking arm stepping into one of the stations reception areas. Where a welcoming committee composed of General Kincaid, Da'an and Captain Janeway was waiting for them. As soon as they were all in the reception area Da'an stepped forward.

"Welcome to Ya'sa'ra," he said politely making the Taelon greeting gesture. "I am Da'an and I am a senior member of the Synod and in their name I welcome you."

"We are pleased to be here Da'an," Ambassador Vales said stepping forward automatically taking the diplomatic lead and mimicking the Taelon greeting gesture with as much grace as he could manage. It had helped that Captain Ramirez had briefed them on Taelon gestures during their flight and what they meant, he also told them not to offer to shake hands with either the Taelons or his fellow hybrids since they didn't like that kind of physical hand to hand contact for the same sort of reasons that the Vulcans disliked physical contact with non-telepaths. "I am Ambassador Justin Vales. It is the hope of the Federation Council that we can establish a good relationship between our peoples."

"That is our hope as well ambassador," Da'an replied. "I can see that we will have much to talk about."

At that moment before anyone could say anything else an alarm began sounding throughout the station.

"What's that," Vales demanded.

"A call to battle stations," Liam replied speaking for the first time. "We're under attack." Quickly he waved up a datastream already suspecting what it was he was going to see.

"Attack!" Captain Janeway exclaimed. "By whom?" Liam looked straight at Da'an who blushed blue in alarm as Liam telepathically showed him what he saw on the datastream.

"The Jaridians have come," Liam said softly.


	11. Chapter 11

When Worlds Collide Chapter Eleven 

The combined assault fleet of Jaridian and Delkari warships came out of interdimensional space near the orbit of the forth of the five planets in the Ya'sa'ra system.  Rapidly the combined force assumed the battle formation designated by the Jaridian Admiral commanding the fleet and began to move in system towards Ya'sa'ra itself and the fleet of Taelon warships that was already breaking out of orbit and assuming an opposing set of battle lines facing their approaching foes.

The Taelon warships fired the first shots.  The first line of defending ships each fired a spread of twelve long-range positron torpedoes at the wave of destroyers and cruisers that formed the vanguard of the approaching assault fleet.  One hundred and twenty torpedoes shot forth towards the enemy vanguard of nine Delkari heavy cruisers and three Jaridian heavy destroyers.  Explosions and icy blue flashes of Cherenkov radiation erupted as positron torpedoes encountered Delkari or Jaridian shields.  One of the Jaridian destroyers and two of the Delkari cruisers were instantly obliterated – another Jaridian destroyer was disabled and dropped out of formation trailing wreckage and burning plasma from a massive hole in its side.

The remaining destroyer and cruisers in the vanguard fired a retaliatory salvo of phased plasma torpedoes at the Taelon ships.  Several Taelon cruisers took hits but the salvo was so spread out – since the Jaridians and Delkari were trying to hit every single ship in the line that none suffered any damage – their heavy regenerative multidimensional shields shrugging the single or odd dual impact aside contemptuously.  The Taelon vanguard line responded with yet more torpedoes concentrating all of their fire on a mere eight targets.  The single Jaridian destroyer and seven Delkari cruisers were the targets of fifteen high-yield positron torpedoes each – not one survived.  Hammered beyond their ability to protect themselves all eight ships blew apart.

Despite the utter obliteration of their vanguard force the assault fleet continued to close heedless of the losses it was taking.  The second wave of attacking ships consisting of twelve Delkari heavy cruisers, six Jaridian heavy destroyers and two Jaridian cruisers launched salvos of their own torpedoes.

The Taelon ships responded to the oncoming deluge of torpedoes with another round of their torpedoes and by doing something that neither the Jaridians or the Delkari had ever seen them do before.  From the tips of several cruisers a pulse of blue light emitted the pulses broke up into hundreds of tiny energy fragments forming a barrier between the cruisers and the approaching torpedoes.  The torpedoes impacted the barrier and every single one detonated.  A nebulous inferno of plasma and radiation burned between the two fleets even as the third salvo of positron torpedoes hammered the shields of the second assault wave.

The second wave of the assault fleet came through the fading inferno and ran straight into a heavy barrage of disruptor fire from the Taelons.  Two Delkari cruisers blew apart as disruptor bolts ripped through shields weekend by torpedo strikes.  One Jaridian destroyer lost shields and took a direct hit on its primary power core.  Automatic safeties immediately shut down the core and transferred to a backup generator – but the destroyer was crippled.  Main power went down throughout the ship as did propulsion and the destroyer dropped out of formation to drift dead in space.

The rest of the second assault wave opened fire on the Taelons with their own disruptors.   Taelon shields glowed softly as red photonic disruptor bolts from the Delkari and blue-white quantum disruptor beams from the Jaridians impacted them but did no damage.  They returned fire supported by torpedoes from the ships immediately behind them.

The third and final assault wave picked up speed and came in to aid its beleaguered follows firing phased plasma torpedoes at the Taelon vanguard.  Having seen the complete lack of success of trying to strike at the entire vanguard at once the torpedoes were focused on the four ships at the immediate point of the Taelons defensive wedge formation.  The four warships were the targets of more than twenty torpedoes each – there was no way for them to survive such an onslaught.  All four were blown out of space instantly opening a hole in the defending vanguard.  Those Jaridian and Delkari warships closest to the hole opened in the Taelon first line went in.  Immediately shields flashed as they took phaser fire from the secondary batteries on the other Taelon vanguard ships.  But the Jaridians and Delkari refused to be distracted and fired more torpedoes at the first ships in the second defensive line while firing across at the ships currently firing at them.

*****

Tactical Operations Centre Ya'sa'ra Orbital Station 

Admiral Owen Paris followed General Kincaid and Da'an into the tactical operations centre of the orbital station.  He would much rather be on the bridge of a ship during a battle but there was no ship available for him to go and he didn't want to get in Captain Janeway's way on _Voyager so he'd come here with General Kincaid, Da'an and the non-Starfleet members of the science/diplomacy team.  Lieutenant Barclay and Commander LaForge had accompanied Captain Janeway back to __Voyager – since as engineers they'd be useful to her during the battle._

The tactical operations centre immediately put him in mind of the old RAF Coastal Command control rooms from Earth's Second World War – Tom had nagged him into taking him to see a preserved one when he was seven.  Though everything in this room was high tech in the extreme.  A central table projected a three dimensional holographic image of Ya'sa'ra and all ships in near orbit – if he looked closely he could see tiny points of light indicating disruptor bolts or beams, phaser beams and torpedoes flying between the attacking and defending ships that had now so completely interpenetrated each others lines that the battle was becoming a capital warship version of a dogfight.  Operators manned consoles around the edges of the circular room and it didn't slip his notice that most of them were hybrids though there was the odd Taelon here and there.

General Kincaid and Da'an walked up to the hologram table and studied the progress of the battle.  Owen followed them.  The battle appeared to be going quiet well for the defenders – a large number of enemy ships had been destroyed for the loss of only a handful of defending ships.

As he observed the unfolding battle Liam frowned in confusion.  This was going to well, too easily.  The Jaridian/Delkari force was composed almost entirely of cruisers of various types and destroyers.  There was only one Sokara battleship amongst them and it was currently firing at the _Wasarin_ while simultaneously trading broadsides with a pair of cruisers.  Surely if the Jaridians had intended to destroy Ya'sa'ra they would have come in with more than one Sokara battleship.  The fact that there was only one Sokara battleship in the enemy fleet was very confusing.

Powerful as they were Sokara-class battleships couldn't completely destroy a planet even with their quantum disruptors at maximum power.  But they could very easily wreck the by nature delicate biosphere of a planet and strip away huge sections of the planetary crust exposing the mantle which would flash heat the atmosphere to the point of combustion and cleanse the surface of life.  However Sokara battleships had one major drawback – the design was clumsy, the world wrecking warships couldn't manoeuvre easily and was therefore extremely vulnerable to faster and more manoeuvrable opponents.

Liam was confused however by the fact that their was only one Sokara with the enemy fleet – surely the Jaridians weren't stupid enough to think that one would be enough to destroy a well defended planet like Ya'sa'ra?  They had to know that any defending forces would almost certainly destroy it before it got near the planet.  Against a well-defended planet like Ya'sa'ra he would have expected the Jaridians to send more Sokara's with the fleet.  Something was not right here.  

"Something's not right here," he said softly to Da'an.  "Why only one Sokara battleship?  The Jaridians aren't stupid they have to know that it couldn't possibly have a chance of destroying or even damaging Ya'sa'ra.  So why send only one with the fleet?"

"Your right Liam," Da'an agreed contemplating the hologram.  Sensors reported that the battleships shields were severely damaged and would soon fail.  "One Sokara battleship makes no sense.  The Jaridians are bound to know that it wouldn't last long enough to do us any damage especially since our weapons are just as powerful as theirs.  It makes no sense?"

Alarms sounded as abruptly a new set of enemy targets appeared from interdimensional space on a completely different vector to the main battle.  Liam studied the new ships and saw the answer to the puzzle of only one Sokara battleship.  It hadn't been alone.  There were four more in this next squadron.  They formed the core of the formation screened by a force of eight heavy destroyers and four Delkari cruisers.

"Theirs your answer general," Admiral Paris said.  "They must have been taking tactical lessons from the Romulans splitting an attack force is one of their favourite tactics.  Send in one force to distract your enemy then slip another one in while he's occupied."

"I am familiar with the manoeuvre admiral," Liam replied looking at the white-haired Starfleet admiral.  After so long being around other hybrids who like him didn't seem to age much past their late thirties he was surprised to see someone whose age was so obviously being shown.  "Though I'm surprised to see the Jaridians employing it.  Normally the full Jaridian force charges into whatever opponent it's facing.  Such tactical manoeuvres are most unusual for them."

"Indeed," Da'an added.  "This is most uncharacteristic of the Jaridians.  Normally they fight somewhat like the Klingons of your quadrant admiral without caution or real thought beyond destroying the enemy.  The fact that they are now employing different combat tactics is most unusual.  Perhaps their alliance with the Delkari has had a deeper impact on the Jaridian psyche than we had previously believed.  Either that or something has happened that is forcing the Jaridians to fight more cautiously."

"Both of those are very possible," Liam agreed.  "However this is a discussion for another time."  Liam turned to look at the planetary defence net controller.  "Target the Jaridian and Delkari ships currently engaged and commence firing."

"Yes general."  The Taelon manning the console turned to carry out the order.  Liam turned to the fleet communications officer.

"Order as many of our ships as possible to break off from their current engagements and engage the approaching squadron."

"Also order my flagship to break off from defensive orbit near the station.  This station has enough firepower to protect itself should any enemy ship get to close," Da'an added.  "Have them move to a long range fire support position."

"Yes sirs."  The hybrid manning the console relayed the orders just as the outer ring of defence satellites began firing upon the closest squadron that their forces were already engaged against and which had already lost half its number.

Turning back to the hologram Liam could see nearly a dozen of their larger warships break away from those currently engaged with the first squadron and fall into assault formation as they moved to engage the second squadron.

"Sir _Voyager_ is requesting permission to undock," the dock master called out to Liam.  "Captain Janeway says she wishes to join the battle."  Liam glanced over at Admiral Paris to ask the admiral's permission to send _Voyager_ into battle – since she was a Federation ship she wasn't for him to command without permission.  The admiral nodded.

"Permission granted," Liam said to the dock master.  "Have _Voyager_ move to engage the second squadron as well.  Send them tactical information on Delkari cruisers, Jaridian destroyers and Sokara battleships as well."

"Yes sir."

*****

U.S.S _Voyager_

"Captain," Ensign Harry Kim called out from the operations bay.  "The Taelons have granted us permission to undock.  General Kincaid is asking if we could join the fleet heading for the second Jaridian and Delkari squadron.  We're also receiving tactical information on the shields and weapons configurations of the Jaridian and Delkari ships."

"Pass that information to tactical," Captain Kathryn Janeway ordered.  Harry nodded and keyed in the commands to transfer the tactical information on the Jaridians and the Delkari to Tuvok's station.  As he was doing so Janeway turned to Chakotay who was manning the helm since Lieutenant Paris was still in sickbay recovering from the ordeal of changing into a hybrid.  "Chakotay get us clear of the station," she ordered.

"Aye captain," Chakotay replied.  A glance at the readings on the helm console scanners showed that the Taelons had dropped the force field that had been acting somewhat like docking clamps in holding _Voyager_ to the space station.  Quickly he engaged the docking thrusters and eased the ship clear of the stations docking port once far enough away he brought the impulse engines to one quarter and the ship accelerated away from the space station and out into the fray.  There was a soft jolt as _Voyager_ passed through the stations defence shield perimeter as soon as they were clear Tuvok raised _Voyager's_ own shields.

"Tactical display on screen," Janeway ordered Tuvok.  "Chakotay set course for the second Jaridian squad…"

Before she could finish the bridge turbolift doors opened and to her surprise Lieutenant Tom Paris stepped out onto the bridge.  Janeway turned in her chair to look at him as he came down onto the centre level of the bridge.  She could see that he was still tired but not as much as she would have expected considering what he'd just been through.

Tom came to a stop before his captain.  He hoped he could convince her to let him take his station here on the bridge.  He knew that they were going into battle with the Jaridians – quiet how he knew that he didn't really know but he just knew it.  _Guess it must be a hybrid thing,_ he thought.

"Mr Paris what are you doing up here you should still be in sickbay," Janeway said already knowing the answer.  His station was up here and they were going into battle, this was his place.

"My place is here especially since were going into battle against the Jaridians," Tom replied while simultaneously thinking _please don't ask how I know that it's the Jaridians.  Because I cannot give you an answer because I don't know how I know myself._

Tuvok standing at his normal station raised an eyebrow at the certainty in Lieutenant Paris' voice.  How did he know that it was the Jaridians they were about to go into battle against.

"How do you know it is the Jaridians?" he asked the hybrid lieutenant.  Tom shrugged in answer.

"I don't know Tuvok," Tom replied.  "I just do."  _He must have some precognitive ability,_ Tuvok thought, _that is the only logical explanation.  Intriguing._

Janeway had listened to the brief exchange between Tuvok and Tom.  Like Tuvok she realised that Tom had to now have a precognitive ability almost certainly as a result of becoming a hybrid.  It could prove useful in the future.  If they had a future it all depended on the coming engagement – and she had to admit they would stand a much better chance of surviving with Tom Paris at the helm.  After all he was – as he sometimes said – the best pilot on _Voyager_.

"Take your station lieutenant," she said after a moment.  The logical part of her brain was saying that this might not be a good idea but here instincts were telling her that Tom would be fine and she had long ago learned to trust her instincts.  "And lay in a course for the second Jaridian squadron."

"Aye captain," Tom replied with a smile of gratitude before turning and relieving Commander Chakotay at the helm.  Chakotay gave Tom a concerned look as he moved back to his usual station.  He hoped that Tom was up to this.

Tom ignored Chakotay's concerned look though he was touched by it.  Yes he was still tired from being metamorphosed back into a hybrid – but the tiredness was not so bad now.  When he'd gone to leave sickbay the Doctor had scanned him and discovered to both their surprise that his energy levels had increased to the point where they would normally be if he'd been awake for two days.  He could manage this battle. 

Quickly he dismissed those thoughts from his mind and focused on his task of guiding _Voyager _into formation with the Taelon warships moving to intercept the second group of enemy ships.

This time it was the Jaridians and Delkari who got in the first shots.  _Voyager_ shuddered as a beam from one of the Jaridian destroyers impacted her forward shields.  The Taelons warships returned fire immediately.  Meanwhile the Jaridian destroyer whose beam had hit _Voyager_ fired at her again.

"Tuvok target that destroyer and open fire," Janeway ordered as _Voyager_ trembled under the impact of the blast.  The forward phasers cut lose slamming bright orange energy beams into the Jaridian destroyer's forward shields, the destroyers shields flashed brightly and the ship seemed to momentarily tremble at the impact.

"Direct hit," Tuvok reported.  "Minor damage to their forward shields."  Even as he spoke Jaridian fire shook _Voyager._  "Shields are holding."

"The Jaridians are targeting our warp core," Harry Kim called out even as several disruptor blasts in rapid succession shook _Voyager_ violently.

"Shields at eighty percent," Tuvok added even as he fired a dual salvo of phaser beams and photon torpedoes back at the destroyer in retaliation.  The destroyer's shields lit up brightly and the Jaridian ship was visibly rocked.

"Evasive pattern sigma one," Janeway ordered to Tom.  That pattern would bring them under and behind the Jaridian warship firing constantly.  Tom immediately obeyed while Tuvok cut lose with the phasers slicing into the Jaridian ships shields repeatedly.  The destroyer's shields fought to withstand the pummelling even as it returned fire.

"Shields at seventy percent," Tuvok reported.

"EPS relays have blown out on deck three sections ten through twenty," Harry added even as Tuvok returned fire aiming for the destroyers engines where according to the tactical information provided by the Taelons the ships shields were weaker.  Weaker they were – the dual phaser beams from both lower forward arrays sliced through the weaker shielding.  An explosion erupted as the beams impacted the destroyer's main drive exhaust ports.  Almost instantly there was another much bigger explosion as the destroyer's entire impulse drive unit exploded.  The fury of the blast tore through the destroyer bursting out the bow.  The destroyer split wide open before disappearing in a fireball.

No one on _Voyager_ had any time to celebrate the destruction of the enemy ship for even as the light of the destroyer's death blast faded a incredibly bright disruptor beam struck the ship and physically slammed her off her central axis.  _Voyager's_ shields held but only just.

"Report," Kathryn Janeway demanded as she picked herself up off the floor where she'd been thrown when _Voyager_ had been hit by that incredibly powerful disruptor beam.

"That blast came from one of the Sokara battleships captain," Tuvok reported.  "Shields are down to ten percent.  Weapons systems are off line."

"Propulsions out to captain," Tom reported frustration evident in his voice.  Before Janeway could ask for a more complete damage report the battleship that had hit them fired at them again.

The Jaridians had reduced the power of the beam so as not to destroy _Voyager_ outright but the beam completely destroyed _Voyager's_ remaining shields and ripped into the hull taking _Voyager_ on the upper port side of the saucer and cutting deep into the hull blowing out several whole sections on decks two through five.  Nearly twenty crewmen were vaporised instantly, several more were sucked out into space before emergency force fields and bulkhead doors could seal the damaged sections off from the rest of the ship.  Not that the rest of the starship was trouble free.

EPS conduits overloaded and blew out throughout the ship starting dozens of plasma fires.  Main power went down throughout the ship along with dozens of other systems.  Within a second of being hit a second time _Voyager_ was hanging dead in space completely and utterly helpless.

Up on the bridge Captain Janeway spat out a broken tooth and picked herself up off the floor for the second time in as many minutes.  What she saw was a scene from her nightmares.  The bridge was in smouldering semidarkness – lit only by the red haze of emergency power, the sparks raining from shorting power relays and the flicking glow of the fire burning in the science bay.

A pile of fallen debris near the helm moved and was suddenly flung aside and a battered looking Tom Paris staggered back to his feet.  All around the bridge most of the staff were climbing back to their feet.

"Damage report," Janeway demanded wincing in pain as she spoke.  She guessed that she'd probably broken at least one rib judging by the pain in her side.  Harry Kim staggered back to his station and struggled with the damaged console to comply.  Janeway could see from the look on his face that he didn't know where to start.

"Main power is off line.  Primary life support systems destroyed," he reported.  "We've got a massive hull rupture on decks two through five sections two through nine.  Those sections are gone captain theirs nothing left."

"Oh my god," Janeway breathed horrified knowing how many people were in those sections.  "Casualties."

"Twenty-four confirmed dead.  Twelve more unaccounted for."  Janeway closed her eyes in pain at the loss of so many crewmen and women.  A hand closed on her arm and she opened her eyes to see Chakotay standing besides her as always his own eyes reflecting the pain that he to felt.

"Continue with your report ensign," Chakotay said after a moment.

"EPS relays burned out all over the ship.  There are plasma fires raging in both cargo bays and the shuttle bay.  We're functioning on emergency power only – emergency power itself is only at sixty percent.  We're venting plasma from both nacelles.  Navigational deflector out.  Hydroponics bay destroyed.  The main computer is down.  Radiation is leaking from the main impulse reactor.  Evacuating affected sections now."

"Captain," Tuvok's voice abruptly called.  "We are being boarded.  Transporter signatures detected throughout the ship."

Before Janeway or Chakotay could issue an order a transporter beam shimmered in the centre of the bridge and rapidly formed into a blocky green bipedal monstrosity that was obviously a machine of some kind.

Tuvok immediately whipped out his phaser and fired at the hostile object.  The beam never touched the machine instead it dissipated harmlessly against a shield.  Had he been Human Tuvok would have frowned but he wasn't Human so he simply increased the phasers power even as the machine turned and raised an arm, which changed into some sort of cannon.  Tuvok ducked as a bright blue-white disruptor beam ripped through the smoky air to shattered the monitors behind his station showering him with hot bits of plastic and crystal.

The replicant scanned the area immediately surrounding it for more threats.  Another phaser beam – this one at full power struck it from behind.  The replicant staggered as its shield only just withstood the blast.  Whirling the replicant knocked the phaser out of the hand of the helmsman and knocked him flying as well.  As the man flew through the air the replicant scanned him and immediately detected a Taelon energy signature emanating from him.  The man was a hybrid and thus was a very grave threat to it since the replicant knew the hybrid would have the shaqarava, which were fully capable of destroying it.  Tactical subroutines indicated that the hybrid should be eliminated immediately before he could use his shaqarava on it.  The replicant brought its disruptor cannon around to bear on the hybrid and increased power to be sure to kill the hybrid with its first shot.

Tom Paris observed the replicant turn its disruptor cannon on him.  Instincts that weren't Human gripped him at that moment and without even realising what he was doing he brought his hands up palms – and shaqarava – pointing at the replicant as it fired at him.  As the replicant fired Tom felt his newly resurrected shaqarava flared to life.  The disruptor beam impacted the shaqarava and was stopped between them forming into a glowing ball of destructive energy.  _Whoa I can't believe I'm doing this,_ he thought, _here I am holding a ball of energy that a millisecond ago was an energy beam intent of vaporising me.  Liam and Mit'gai are right I really need to learn how to control these shaqarava things properly.  But that's for later but first I better get rid of this thing._  Vaguely he remembered how to make the shaqarava fire so he did.

The ball of disruptor energy absorbed the discharge of shaqarava energy and shot back at the replicant.  The replicant exploded the instant the bolt struck it disintegrating in a near blinding blast of light.  A few sparking fragments were all that remained.

Tom staggered back to his feet and looked at the few sparking fragments then down at the still glowing shaqarava in the palms of his hands, then back at the remains of the replicant.  He was aware of everyone on the bridge staring at him in surprise and astonishment – even Tuvok.

"I can't believe I did that," he said looking down at his shaqarava again.  "I really need to learn what exactly these things can do," he added more to himself but Janeway and Chakotay heard him.  After a moments more contemplation of the shaqarava glowing in his hands like two small stars he made them stop glowing. 

Kathryn Janeway shook herself out of her amazed daze.  Though she'd known about the shaqarava this was the first time that she had ever really seen at least part of what they could do.  It suddenly brought home to her just how powerful hybrids like Tom and Liam really were.  She turned to Tuvok.

"Tuvok what's the status on the other intruders," she asked after all Tom couldn't be everywhere.  Tuvok checked his damaged console. 

"Five have been destroyed," he reported.  "Six more remain.  They are heading for the main computer, the bridge and main engineering." 

"Dispatch security parties to intercept," Janeway ordered.

"What's going on out there Tuvok," Chakotay asked referring to the battle he couldn't see what was going on since the view screen was inoperative.

"Almost all of the Jaridian and Delkari warships have been destroyed," Tuvok reported.  "Three are adrift with minimal power readings and only sporadic life signs.  Remaining Jaridian and Delkari ships are retreating."

"Engineering to bridge," B'Elanna Torres' voice said over the intercom.  "We have a serious problem the plasma injectors for the warp core have been ruptured were trying to shut it down no…" abruptly their came a bang followed by a hissing sound and a Klingon expletive.  "Coolant leak," B'Elanna called out.  "Bridge we've got a coolant leek in the warp core I cannot shut it down.  We're five minutes from a warp core breech."

"Eject the core," Janeway ordered.

"I cannot the core injection system is…"

"B'Elanna report!"

"Some kind of energy beam is coming through the bulkhead," B'Elanna's voice said.  In the background the hissing of leaking warp core coolant stopped.  There was a comment from what sounded like Geordie LaForge though B'Elanna's combadge couldn't pick up what it was.  "Captain I don't believe it but the warp core is powering down," B'Elanna's voice said awe in her tone.  "The energy of the matter/antimatter reaction is being dissipated somehow and the antimatter itself neutralised."

"Captain the energy beam is coming from one of the Taelon ships," Harry Kim reported.  "One of their cruisers has pulled along side us.  Their beaming personnel over."

"Captain all the remaining hostile machines have been destroyed," Tuvok reported.  "But not by any of my teams.  They've been destroyed by hybrids beaming over from the Taelon cruiser."

"Hybrid teams are beaming back to their ship," Harry reported.

"Engineering to bridge the warp core is off line," B'Elanna reported disbelief still plain in her tone of voice.  "That energy beam has been disengaged but the cores staying off line.  Captain who did that?"

"We did," a voice said from the other side of the bridge.  Janeway whirled to see a female hybrid standing near the ready room doors.  "We saw that you were on the verge of destruction and that your escape systems are off line.  We also noticed the replicants on board.  So we decided to help," the hybrid continued walking up to Janeway.  "Sorry if we startled you but your ship-to-ship communications are not working."

"Captain who is that," B'Elanna's voice asked.

"My name is Sonia," the hybrid woman said.  "Actually its Lieutenant Commander Sonia Kincaid – and before anyone asks General Kincaid is my grandfather."

"Well thank you for your help," Janeway said.

"Captain is Tom all right," B'Elanna asked after a moments silence with the immediate threat of the warp core going boom averted she was now thinking of her husband not her duty.

"I'm fine B'Elanna," Tom answered for Janeway.

"Captain Janeway," Sonia Kincaid said.  "Our sensors show that your propulsion systems are off line," she added.  "We can tow you back to the orbital station for repairs if you like?"

"That would be very kind of you," Janeway replied.  For a second the hybrid woman was silent and once more Janeway got the hint that some sort of silent telepathic communication was going on.  She looked at Tom to see if he could confirm it.  Tom nodded he was aware of the communication but he couldn't tell what was being said he was just aware that Sonia was talking to someone.

A second later a shiver ran though the deck.

"Captain the Taelon cruiser has locked a tractor beam on us," Harry Kim reported.  "There taking us in tow and moving back to the orbital station."

"We will transfer you to the orbital stations tractor beams as soon as where in range," Sonia said.  "Now you must excuse me but I must return to the _Val'shi_ we have our own injured and dead to attend to."

"Of course."  Sonia made the now familiar greeting/leave taking gesture then she touched what looked like a crystal on the wrist of her jumpsuit.  And was instantly enveloped in a Taelon transporter beam and was gone.

For a second Janeway just stood watching the empty space where the hybrid woman had once been standing just as the fire suppression systems came back on line and immediately began tackling the blaze consuming the science bay.

"All right we have our own work to do," she said after a moment.  "Chakotay, Harry I want you to do a complete analysis of the damage we've sustained.  Tuvok take a security team and begin sweeping the ship deck by deck looking for anyone injured or trapped.  Tom go down to sickbay and help the Doctor."

"Aye captain," everyone who'd been spoken to said.

*****

Tactical Operations Centre 

**Ya'sa'ra Orbital Station**

Admiral Owen Paris was glad when the battle with the Jaridians came to an end – it been just as brutal as many of the engagements with the Jem'Hadar and Cardassians had been in the recent war with the Dominion.  It had brought up unpleasant memories.

He was worried about _Voyager_ however.  The stations sensors showed that _Voyager_ had sustained massive damage when that Sokara battleship had fired at her.  He didn't know what the casualties were like on board but he knew how Kathryn would take it.  Every death would feel like a personal loss to her. Her empathy for her crew was what made her such a good captain but it could also be a weakness.  He was also worried about Tom – was he alive.

"Admiral are you alright," General Kincaid asked making him jump.

"Yes I'm fine," he replied looking over at the tall hybrid.  "But I am worried."

"About your son?"

"Yes."

"I understand I worry everytime any of my family goes into battle even if its sometimes me sending them.  You don't have to worry though your son is fine."

"How do you know?  Know wait I don't want to know.  But I am worried about something else."

"Oh?"

"These Jaridians are they likely to attack the Federation now that one of our ships engaged them?"

"I do not think so," Liam replied with a smile.  "That would mean fighting a war on two fronts.  The Jaridians are bold, vicious and arrogant but their not stupid.  It is a possibility but then it always was.  For Jaridians know the history that your world has forgotten.  And that is that once Humans and Taelons were allies against them.  There was always a risk they would attack you from the moment this new war began forty years ago."

"You've been at war for forty years?"

"Yes.  Mainly with the Delkari.  Until now the Jaridians only participated in the initial assaults of the war.  Then for some reason the Jaridians just disappeared from the battlefield.  The amount of time we've been at war is nothing like the last war was.  That lasted for a thousand years.  But this time its different tactics and weapons on both sides have changed."

"I just hope they leave us out of it," Owen replied.  "We're only just getting back on our feet after the Dominion war.  We've seen enough death for awhile."

"The Jaridians should leave you alone as I said there not stupid enough to start a two front war.  At least I don't think they are.  But it is always a risk a risk that Humanity especially has lived unknowingly with for nearly four hundred years."

"So where do we go from here diplomatically speaking?"

"That's up to your ambassador and to Da'an and the Synod.  We'll help repair _Voyager_ and we'll help you adapt ID technology for her like we were going to anyway.  Where we go from there is up to you.  Now if you will excuse me admiral I have a number of things to do."

"Of course.  Can you get someone to take me to the airlock _Voyager_ will be docking at."

"They won't be docking at an airlock we'll bring them into a repair bay.  But I will have someone take you and Dr Brahms to _Voyager_."

"Thank you."  Liam smiled then turned and walked away.  Owen watched him go he wished he could be as certain as the hybrid that the Jaridians wouldn't attack the Federation now that _Voyager_ had destroyed one of their ships.


	12. Chapter 12

When Worlds Collide

****

Chapter Twelve Elsewhere 

The battered and battle scarred remnants of the combined Jaridian/Delkari attack force limped through space away from the Ya'sa'ra system.  There were not that many surviving ships in total there were just seven – four of them Jaridian, three of them Delkari – and all had sustained damage some of it quiet serious.  Now that they were clear of the Ya'sa'ra system and the Taelon battle group stationed there the remains of the fleet had dropped out of interdimensional space to allow engineers on board to patch hull breaches and repair other bits of external damage as best as they were able while the small fleet moved at full impulse in the direction of the nearest safe planet – in this case the Delkari colony on Taal'an III some four hundred light years from there current position in the interstellar no-mans land between the boarders of the Taelon Empire in this galaxy and the boarders of the Jaridian-allied Delkari Empire.

In her private strategy chamber on board the battered but still functional Jaridian battleship _Vengara_ Admiral Sulkana tried to understand what had gone wrong with her carefully conceived battle plan.  Try as she might she could not explain the disaster that the assault on Ya'sa'ra had become for the Empire.  Defeats for Jaridia were rare – at least they'd been in the previous war with the Taelons, which had ended nearly four centuries ago.  This time around it seemed to be a different story.  

From the start of this new war with the Taelons the Jaridians had noticed a change in Taelon behaviour towards them.  Whereas they would have once run away the Taelons now stood their ground and fought with surprising skill, passion and purpose.  It hadn't taken them long to realise that it was the increasing numbers of rapidly breeding but long lived Human/Taelon hybrids who were responsible for the change.  Their presence had altered the Taelon Commonality to an incredible degree and partially restored to the Taelons the passions of the species from which both Taelons and Jaridians had evolved.  Which had sounded warning bells for both the Emperor and High Command from the start.  It had forced them to seek allies in the form of the Delkari – who themselves controlled a respectable region of space in this galaxy with a fist of iron.  The first joint assaults hadn't gone particularly well but just as things were starting to improve the Jaridians had abruptly found themselves distracted by a major internal problem.

A number of enslaved races had joined forces with the Jaridian republican movement and begun an open insurrection on the far side of the Empire that had for a time threatened to overthrow the joint rule of the Emperor and High Command.  The High Command had been forced to divert their attention from the Taelons to the rebels – leaving the Delkari to fight the Taelons.  The battle with the rebels had been long and brutal on both sides – the old methods of direct assault hadn't worked so the High Command had been forced to think more with their heads than their hearts and use sophisticated combat tactics and not charge blindly into battle.  Eventually the High Command had beaten the rebels and been able to return attention to the Taelons.

Only to find that the war between the Taelons and Delkari had practically reached a stalemate, with neither Taelons nor Delkari able to defeat the other, it had become a battle of attrition.   And that was a battle that the Taelons with their near infinite patience – when you had life spans that measured in centuries and millennia you could afford to have such patience – had been winning.  Upon rejoining the war the High Command had resolved to break the stalemate.

And so it was that Sulkana – who'd distinguished herself in the civil war – had been chosen to prepare an assault that would break the stalemate.  After consulting with the Delkari Sulkana had chosen Ya'sa'ra as her target since it was one of the closest territories to Delkari territory and had only moderate defences since it was one of the Taelons smallest colonies – home only to around four hundred Taelons and about fifteen thousand hybrids – and also served as a forward supply post for the Taelon fleet.  Destroying it would have weekend the Taelon fleet and enabled them to break the stalemate – at least until the Taelons could regroup.

But the assault had failed.  What had been meant to be the first big push against the Taelons had turned into a complete and total Jaridian and Delkari route.  Sulkana's fleet had been all but destroyed with relatively little damage done to the Taelon fleet and no damage at all to Ya'sa'ra itself.  And Sulkana just didn't know what to make of it.  And neither would the High Command.  A Jaridian fleet being defeated by the Taelons was almost unheard of.

Everything had looked so promising at the beginning.  She'd had more ships than the Taelons had based at Ya'sa'ra and therefore more firepower at her disposal.  And she'd sent her fleet in in two distinct waves.  The Taelons had fallen for her tactic and engaged the first assault group with almost their entire battle group save for that mothership which had stayed near the orbital station.  When she herself had arrived with the second assault group she'd expected only to have to deal with the planetary defence net since the first assault group should have been able to delay the Taelons long enough for her to break through the network of defence satellites, destroy the orbital station and get into bombardment position over the colony.

But it hadn't worked out that way.  The casualties the first assault group had suffered so quickly had shocked her as soon as she'd come out of ID space – it had been obvious to her that the Taelons weapons had to be more powerful than she'd been led to believe by the intelligence services and had to have a longer range than reported.  She'd been somewhat concerned when a significant number of Taelon ships had broken off from engaging the first assault group to move to engage her but not overly so.  She'd had more ships than them in her second assault group.  Then that mothership had moved to join the battle with long-range fire from its main positron torpedo banks and the Federation ship – the _Voyager_ if she'd read the nameplate correctly – had joined in as well tipping the scales more in the Taelons favour.

Sulkana had been curious about the Federation ship being here.  Sensors had shown no transwarp or interdimensional drive being onboard, just a simple warp engine the likes of which they'd abandoned millennia ago.  Which was why she'd only disabled _Voyager_ and not destroyed her even after _Voyager_ destroyed the _Cobatha_.  As soon as _Voyager_ had lost shields she'd transported a number of assault replicants on board to investigate and take control of the ship.  One had quickly run into a hybrid – who'd appeared to be a member of the crew – on _Voyager's_ bridge and been destroyed the rest had been destroyed a mixture of Federation security teams and hybrids beaming over from a Taelon cruiser.  She hadn't been in a position to beam anymore over.  By that point in the battle the first assault group had been almost completely obliterated.  More Taelon warships had been coming towards her from that battle and the _Vengara_ had been struck by a vicious volley of positron torpedoes from a Taelon cruiser, which had overloaded the shields and breached the hull armour in three places.

Sulkana had had no choice but to order her surviving ships to disengage and retreat.  Six had been destroyed and three more crippled before they could make it into ID space.

Sulkana thought about the Federation ship for a moment.  She was still curious about what it was doing at Ya'sa'ra and how it had got there.  Had the Taelons towed it to Ya'sa'ra from Federation space?  Or had it got here by another means like a wormhole?  And then their was the question of what a Human/Taelon hybrid was doing on the crew – normally they stayed with the Taelons and intelligence had reported no contacts between the Taelons and the Federation save one brief meeting eleven years ago.  Was intelligence wrong about that as well?  Sulkana believed it imperative that they find out either way and took steps to discourage the powerful United Federation of Planets from joining the war.  She would speak to the High Command about it when she got to Taal'an.

*****

Ya'sa'ra 

**Two Days Later**

An exhausted Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres walked down the circular central corridor of the apartment block on the surface of Ya'sa'ra, which had been assigned as temporary living quarters for the _Voyager_ crew while _Voyager_ was being repaired.  She'd hadn't spent today on _Voyager_ at all but had been on the station most of the day working with Doctor Brahms, Commander LaForge, Seven of Nine, the Vulcan T'vren, a Taelon scientist called Su'ul and his hybrid assistance Tadoshi Nakamura, and the Klingon scientist Gorak to try and find away of making interdimensional technology work on a Federation ship.

It had been interesting but exhausting work.  The Taelon ID technology was incredibly advanced and was based on theories that to them were cutting edge or hadn't even been thought of in some cases.  Judging from Seven's expression some of the theories were completely new even to her and she had the knowledge of the Borg to call on.  B'Elanna didn't understand half of what was explained – though to be fair she wasn't a scientist and Su'ul and Tadoshi were doing their best to teach them the basic principles involved.  But they'd made some headway.  Between them B'Elanna, Geordie, Leah and Su'ul had figured out how to integrate the interdimensional engine coils into _Voyager's_ existing nacelle structure.  That was one hurdle down.  Seven, T'vren and Gorak with Tadoshi's help were making slow but steady progress in reconfiguring the ID drive power matrix to work with Federation technology.  They'd finally called it a day an hour ago and now B'Elanna was on her way back to her and Tom's apartment to rest before they had dinner with Owen Paris this evening.

At that moment she arrived at the door to the apartment.  She could tell that it was the door because it was inset slightly from the bioslurry wall, which it was otherwise indistinguishable from.  A small number 22 was written above the door control panel, which like everything else was organic only in the case of the pad it was made of a tough translucent material that looked similar to plastic but was infinitely stronger and didn't melt under sustained heat.

B'Elanna reached out and touched the panel.  The panel glowed under her touch checking her DNA code and energy signature conformed to one of those it was programmed automatically to admit.  A second later the door glowed brightly and simply vanished.  B'Elanna shook her head as she walked in.  She still wasn't used to that, doors should open not simply vanish into thin air.  The door reappeared behind her.

B'Elanna looked around the apartment for a moment and wondered idly if Tom was back yet from his latest training session.  For the past two days Tom had been working with a hybrid whose name B'Elanna knew to be Rhys to learn to control the abilities that he suddenly had as a result of becoming a hybrid again – permanently this time.  In the last two days she'd seen Tom go from being frightened of his powers to coming to accept them as his control over them grew better and she'd seen his confidence grow.

Sure enough Tom was here she could see him standing out on the balcony looking out over the city that was Ya'sa'ra's only settlement and the ocean beyond its boundary.  He clearly hadn't heard her come in.  B'Elanna walked over and felt a momentary electrostatic tingle as she walked through a virtual glass barrier.

Tom turned as he heard her step through the barrier and smiled warmly in greeting.  Silently they kissed and embraced as normal.  B'Elanna personally hoped that this would never change that they would always be able to show their affection for each other.

"How was your day?" Tom asked her quietly.

"Exhausting," B'Elanna admitted.  "But productive we've finally figured out how to integrate the ID drive coils into _Voyager's_ existing nacelles.  The repairs are progressing well from what I'm told.  From what I gather we're repairing _Voyager_ enough to get us back home but that's all were doing.  The destroyed sections can be rebuilt at Utopia Planetia."

"That is good news," Tom replied pulling back a little.  "We'll finally be going home soon."

"Yes it is."  B'Elanna eyed Tom carefully.  "But I get the impression you're not as happy with it as I would have thought."

"It's not that I don't want to go home," Tom replied.  "But I just don't know what's going to happen when we get there.  Will they send me back to prison?  Will they put you and all the other former Marquis in prison?  I'm just not happy with the idea of the crew being broken up?"  B'Elanna nodded in understanding it had bothered her as well.

"Somehow I doubt that's going to happen," she reasoned.  "Starfleet lost a lot of ships and a lot of crews during the Dominion War.  I overheard Chakotay speaking to your father about it.  He said that during the war an executive order was issued by the then Federation President Jaris Inyo pardoning all Marquis with military experience.  Many former Starfleet personnel rejoined to fight off the Cardassians, Jem'Hadar and Breen.  From what your father said that order has not been cancelled.  I doubt they'll force anyone to leave _Voyager_ if we don't want to go."

"That would be nice," Tom agreed.  "We've all been through so much together in the last seven years that it would be a shame to break up the family."  B'Elanna nodded in seven years the crew of _Voyager_ had become like a family to each other mainly because when they'd been yanked across the galaxy they'd effectively lost their own families and had only each other to turn to.

"So how did your day go," B'Elanna asked Tom.  "Learn anything new?"

"A little," Tom replied turning to look back out at the sea.  "Rhys showed me how to share my feelings and such with others using my shaqarava as a conduit."

"Wasn't that happening anyway?" B'Elanna asked referring to the fact that every time they'd touched hands in the last two and a half days they'd both immediately felt each other in a way that was hard to put into words it was like an awareness of each others being besides their physical bodies.

"Yes inadvertently because I didn't know how to stop it.  Now I do know or at least I have a very good idea.  Rhys did point out however that I won't stop it entirely until…"

"Until we let this mental love bond thing happen," B'Elanna finished.  Tom nodded.  B'Elanna joined him in looking out at the ocean beyond the buildings of this beautiful but very alien city.  There apartment was located on the fifth floor of the apartment complex and the view was lovely from here.  "Maybe we should just let it happen," she said after a moment turning away slightly from the view Tom turning with her.  "From what Mit'gai said on _Voyager_ it's going to happen anyway what's the point in trying to delay it?"

"Good point," Tom agreed.  "But are you comfortable with the idea?"

"Well from what I understand about this _va'ruu_ isn't it?"  Tom nodded.  "The link goes both ways and we can block each other out when we want and just be aware of each other.  So yeah I'm okay with it.  You?"

"Yeah I'm alright with it."  Tom looked straight into his wife's deep brown eyes and B'Elanna for her part looked into Tom's grey-blue eyes.  Tom smiled slightly at her.  "We have a couple of hours till dad comes for dinner," Tom said.  "Perhaps we should just let this bond thing form now."

"It's as good a time as any," B'Elanna agreed.  "But let's go inside shall we?"  Tom nodded in agreement.  This was a very private thing that should only take place between the two of them.

A moment later they were in the bedroom of the apartment.  They stood facing each other at the end of the bed.

"So how do we do this," B'Elanna asked.

"To be honest I don't know," Tom asked.  "Mit'gai said it's instinctive so maybe we should just join hands and let whatever happens happen."  B'Elanna nodded in agreement.

Tom held up his hands palms out.  B'Elanna did the same and they walked towards each other until their hands touched.  The moment their hands touched they closed their eyes and there was the familiar jolt of awareness of each other's being.  But this time they didn't pull away but went with the feeling letting it wash over them.  For a couple of moments nothing happened beyond that feeling of awareness then a wave of warmth began in Tom's body rising from somewhere deep in the very fibres of his being and surged through him.  It ran down his arms, to his hands and his shaqarava before passing into and surging through B'Elanna.  And abruptly the awareness changed and there minds interpenetrated each other to such a point that for a short time they were both separate and yet the same.

Neither of them noticed of cared about the shimmering blue energy cocoon that had enveloped them.  They were just focused entirely on the ecstasy of the feeling between luxuriating in knowing each other in away that was previously inconceivable.  For those priceless minutes there was no separate Tom Paris, no separate B'Elanna Torres but both together as one knowing each others thoughts each others memories feeling each others feelings.

After what seemed like just seconds but what was really nearly ten minutes their minds once more separated though the awareness remained behind at the back of their minds a constant feeling of knowing exactly where the other was and what they were feeling – and if they concentrated what they were thinking.  The energy cocoon faded away as they lowered their hands and opened their eyes.  And both collapsed to their knees shaking with the after-effects of the intensity of the experience.

"That was amazing," a gasping B'Elanna breathed.  The experience had been beyond anything that she had ever experienced and more intimate than anything she'd ever known even sex.  At the back of her mind she could sense that Tom was feeling.

"Yes it was," Tom agreed gasping himself.

After a couple of more moments they both stood up as the after-effects of the strange alien but incredible experience faded away aside from the mental awareness of each other.  After another moment of silently thinking about what had happened they both started moving.  B'Elanna going to the bathroom to have a bath, Tom going over to dinning area and beginning to lay the table for dinner tonight.


	13. Chapter 13

When Worlds Collide

****

Chapter Thirteen 

****

**U.S.S _Voyager_**

**Two Days Later**

Doctor Leah Brahms crawled through the Jeffries tube leading to one of _Voyager's_ main power junctions they had to reconfigure it to accept the power matrix for the interdimensional drive.  They'd finally managed to adapt the Taelon technology enough to integrate it with Federation technology though it still required considerable modifications to be made to _Voyager's_ power systems.  Which were easy to make at the moment since they were repairing and rerouting them anyway after the damage _Voyager_ had taken in the battle with the Jaridians.

"Why couldn't you design a space where you could walk upright," Tadoshi's voice said from behind Leah.  The hybrid engineer/scientist was accompanying Leah and B'Elanna Torres to the power junction to help reconfigure the magnetic wave-guides in the plasma conduits linked to the distribution node they were going to.

"I don't know," Leah admitted.  "We always just design these tubes to be just that access tubes for ships functions that run through every deck and section of the ship terminating ultimately in the space between the outer and inner hulls.  Space is always at a premium on a starship so the Jeffries tubes are designed to take up as little space as possible."

"Do your ships have something similar to Jeffries tubes," B'Elanna asked Tadoshi curiously.

"Yes we do though they're not as narrow or low as this thing.  In our access corridors most people can at least stand upright though it does get somewhat tight in places and can get somewhat dusty since their not used that often.  Since our ships are living beings they are able to repair and in effect regrow any damage they take.  Only certain things like the main drives both conventional and interdimensional require us to actually physically repair and maintain them.  Everything else is done almost entirely by the ship or a buildings organic systems."

"Have the Taelons always used organic based technology," Leah asked.  "Or did they once go through a phase of using mechanical ships like ours."

"The Taelons have always used organic technology to my knowledge," Tadoshi replied.  "In ten million years of history I've seen no evidence of them ever using anything different.  The Taelons are skilled bioengineers and long ago developed the ability to program organic matter to grow into any form they want and to do so quickly."

"Wouldn't there be archaeological evidence on their homeworld of them using non-organic technology in the past?" B'Elanna asked.

"Possibly so but there is no way to know.  The Jaridians destroyed the Taelon homeworld nearly fourteen hundred years ago.  The planetary crust was basically obliterated by massive orbital bombardment.  Taelon is now just a burnt lifeless cinder in a star system near the centre of the Meruva galaxy the radioactive remains of its atmosphere slowly bleeding out into space."  Neither B'Elanna nor Leah knew quiet what to say at that.  What did one say when told about such a thing even though the thing in question had happened more than a millennium ago?  So they changed the topic.

"Tadoshi what is this Commonality thing that we keep hearing about," Leah asked as they came to the end of this particular tube and stood up before descending the narrow ladder to the deck below and the next Jeffries tube that would terminate at their destination.

"The Commonality is a form of telepathic web that links the minds and souls of the entire Taelon race," Tadoshi replied as he descended the ladder.  "It's the foundation for their entire society."

"So its kind of like the Borg Collective?" B'Elanna asked starting down.

"In some ways.  It is the foundation of the Taelons sentience and it was from observing the Taelons that the race that became the first Borg first got the idea for a collective consciousness.  But that is where the similarities end.  The Commonality is much more spiritually orientated than the Borg Collective.  Taelons can be as individual in their personalities as Humans or any other race are.  The Commonality just binds them all together on a mental spiritual level."

"Interesting," Leah commented as they started along the Jeffries tube.  "Are you part of this Commonality?"

"I can access it if that's what you mean.  But no I don't exist as part of the Commonality like the Taelons do.  None of my kind does though we could be part of the Commonality all the time if we wanted to be.  But we prefer not to be.  It's not that were afraid of the Commonality or anything its just were much more comfortable being on our own than in sharing ourselves with every Taelon or every other of our kind."

"So in that respect your much closer to us than you are to the Taelons," B'Elanna commented.

"Yes.  You will find lieutenant that in many ways my kind are no different to Humans.  Our thought processes can be little different so can our reactions it depends on the situation.  In one situation we might think and respond like a Human would in another we'll think and respond as a Taelon would and sometimes we'll think and act in away completely different to either.  But most of the time we do think more like Humans than Taelons though we have an easier time than a full Human would understanding the way Taelons sometimes view things."

"Do your two different natures sometimes clash," B'Elanna asked in genuine curiosity.  "I know that my Human and Klingon halves are sometimes completely at odds with each other."  Tadoshi laughed.

"I can identify with that," he agreed.  "I've been in situations where the Human in me wants to react in a certain way and the Taelon in me wants to react in a completely different way.  Such situations though rare can be somewhat difficult."

"Tell me about it," B'Elanna agreed with a smile.  They came to the end of the Jeffries tube at that moment.  Since she was leading she opened the access panel into a small room with three large removable wall panels.  Behind those immediately to the left and right was a large EPS power conduit, behind the panel immediately ahead was the junction node where half a dozen smaller EPS conduits branched off from the main conduit to provide power to the bridge and upper three decks of the saucer section.

Quickly they piled out of the Jeffries tube and set about their work.  They'd already reconfigured three of these things with four more to go after this one so Leah, B'Elanna and Tadoshi all knew what they had to do so the quickly set about work.

Ten minutes into reconfiguring the primary magnetic wave-guide to stand up to the strain the entire EPS system would be under coping with the new propulsion system B'Elanna began to feel momentarily dizzy.  Turning off her laser driver she paused and took a deep breath to try and push the dizziness away.  She was familiar with this – it happened quiet a lot since the two different sides of her metabolism did clash at times for no apparent reason – she'd long ago developed breathing techniques based loosely on Terran yoga breathing principles to deal with it.

"Lieutenant are you alright," Leah asked eyeing the Klingon/Human engineer in concern.  Tadoshi also stopped what he was doing and turned to look at B'Elanna in concern.  A look at her showed that something wasn't quiet right.

"Yes," B'Elanna replied.  "Metabolic clash it happens frequently," she explained as the dizziness faded away momentarily only to abruptly flare up again and she wobbled noticeably and would have collapsed to her knees if Leah hadn't caught her.  "But its not normally this bad," B'Elanna admitted.

"Perhaps you should go to sickbay maybe that holographic healer of yours could help," Tadoshi said looking straight at her.

"I'm fine," B'Elanna said stubbornly only to grown as another wave of disorientating dizziness rippled through her.  "On the other hand you may be right," she admitted.  "You two carry on here I'll go see the Doctor and join you back here or at one of the other four junctions we have left to do after this one."

"Are you sure you want to go alone," Tadoshi asked.

"I'll be fine," B'Elanna assured the hybrid.  "No need to baby me."

"And why not," Tadoshi asked jokingly.  "After all at eighty-nine I'm old enough to be your grandfather."  B'Elanna laughed before moving away from Leah and disappearing back into the Jeffries tube.  Leah meanwhile looked at Tadoshi.

"You're eighty-nine years old," she exclaimed in shock.

"Yes.  One thing you should learn about my kind Leah is that we age only slowly.  I can expect to live anywhere from three hundred to four hundred years.  We age normally until our mid-thirities and then we physically seem to stop aging.   We only start aging again in the last decade or two of our lives."

"Interesting so many of the first hybrids are still alive."

"Most are yes," Tadoshi agreed.  "Though some have joined the Void through injury or illness and some have died in battle with our enemies.  Come we better get back to work."

B'Elanna Torres staggered out of the Jeffries tube into one of _Voyager's_ corridors and began to move to the nearest turbolift clutching at the bulkhead for support against the dizziness being caused by the most vicious metabolic clash she'd ever experienced.  Idly she wondered if it had something to do with that Taelon bonding/joining thing she and Tom had done two days ago – but if it did have something to do with that then why hadn't it shown up earlier.

"Lieutenant are you alright," a familiar voice said from behind her.  B'Elanna paused and turned to see Seven of Nine looking at her in concern.  After a moment B'Elanna decided to swallow her pride and ask the ex-Borg drone for some help.

"Not really Seven," she admitted.  "I'm feeling dizzy for some reason.  I'm trying to get to sickbay but it's slow going.  Can you help me get there?"

"Of course," Seven responded coming up to stand beside her and taking B'Elanna's right arm and slinging it across her shoulders.  B'Elanna gratefully shifted some of her weight onto Seven and they started towards sickbay.

*****

Ya'sa'ra City 

Admiral Owen Paris stood on the sidelines watching his son practice the use of some of his new abilities.  Tom was currently sitting cross-legged on the floor of a room whose only feature was a large pedestal, a set of blocks on the floor below the pedestal and a diagram on the wall depicting a simple looking pyramid on top of the pedestal.  According to Rhys Jordan the hybrid teaching Tom how to use his hybrid abilities the object of the exercise was to construct the pyramid on the pedestal without physically touching any of the blocks.

So it was that slowly and surely the blocks were lifting one by one off the floor and moved onto the pedestal to assemble the pyramid.  The blocks were being moved not through any technological means but just by telekinesis – an ability normally dormant in full Humans since the part of the Human mind where such abilities were located wasn't due to evolve properly for another million years or so, but that wasn't dormant in Human/Taelon hybrids even those that were more Human than Taelon like Tom was.

Owen watched silently so as not to break Tom's concentration as he slowly moved the blocks through sheer mental power nothing more.  Rhys was also present along with a certain Vulcan security officer who'd been curious and asked to be able to attend the session.  Tom and Rhys had allowed it and now Tuvok was watching as well as the blocks were slowly but surely piled in order on the pedestal.  Tom's eyes were closed as he was doing this and his face was a mask of concentration as he carefully moved the pieces.

Finally the final piece of the pyramid was lifted off the ground and slowly drifted through the air to settle on the top of the pyramid.

From his position Owen saw a small smile light Rhys' lips.

"Well done," the older hybrid said to Tom as the latter opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was hard," Tom said standing up.

"It always is at first," Rhys replied.  "But with practice it gets easier and easier.  Soon you won't need to close your eyes or concentrate really hard to move the training blocks or any other small to medium sized object."  

To make his point Rhys made a hand gesture and an opening appeared in the bioslurry wall revealing a small cupboard.  Abruptly every single block lifted off the pedestal and flew through the air to stack themselves neatly inside the cupboard.  Tom watched impressed by the complete lack of effort Rhys had demonstrated doing that.  He could only hope that he would be able to do the same soon. 

"That is all for today," Rhys said as he closed the cupboard and keyed a command into a holographic console that appeared in the air beside him.  The pedestal rippled seemed to turn fluid and flowed down to vanish into the floor as if it had never been.  "You are progressing through the basic training program quiet nicely," Rhys continued.  "We only have a few more things to cover.   Until tomorrow."  Rhys made the familiar Taelon greeting/leave-taking salute before making a door appear in the walls and leaving the room.

Both Tuvok and Owen moved up to Tom as soon as Rhys left the room.

"An impressive display lieutenant," Tuvok said in complement.  "I believe that we will all be surprised by what you will be able to do with a little more practice."

"Yeah me included," Tom agreed.  "Thanks for the vote of confidence Tuvok."

"I am merely stating a fact," Tuvok responded with typical Vulcan snobbishness.  "Now please excuse me I have some duties to attend to."  Tuvok nodded towards Owen.  "With your leave admiral?"

"Yes commander go," Owen said.  Tuvok nodded and also left the room.  Owen meanwhile looked over at his son.  Things were still somewhat awkward between them but weren't as awkward as they had once been.  Seven years of forced separation was enough to put their previous disputes into perspective.

Before he could say anything a strange look abruptly came across Tom's face.  A look that was hard to describe.

"Tom is something wrong," Owen asked in concern.  Tom didn't answer immediately but almost seemed to look inside himself.  Then a look of concern appeared on his face.

"Something's wrong with B'Elanna," he said.  "She's gone to sickbay on _Voyager_.  I have to get up there."

"Then let us go.  I think there nearest transporter is this way."

*****

Voyager Sickbay Ten Minutes Later 

The Doctor smiled slightly as he saw the results of the bioscan he'd just run on Lieutenant Torres to determine what was causing her dizziness.  Yet he was also confused.  He'd treated Lieutenant Torres for minor electrical burns and a broken rib after the battle with the Jaridian fleet and their had been no sign of what he was reading now.

"Well Doctor," B'Elanna asked.  "What's causing this?"

"You're electrolyte levels are low.  You skipped breakfast again this morning didn't you."

"Guilty as charged," B'Elanna admitted.  "But I've skipped breakfast before and it's never had this effect on me before.  Why's it affecting me now?"

Before the Doctor could reply the sickbay doors opened and Lieutenant Paris came through followed by his father Admiral Paris.  Tom immediately marched up to his wife's bedside.

"Are you alright," he asked and at such close proximity B'Elanna couldn't help but feel his concern for her through the telepathic link between them.  "I felt that something was wrong down on the planet," he explained for the Doctors benefit.

"I'm fine.  Just a dizzy spell," B'Elanna reassuringly and deeply touched that Tom had dashed up here the moment he had sensed that something was wrong.  In his place she would no doubt do the same – even if she had to fight her way through a fleet of warships to get to him.  "In fact the Doctor was about to tell me what caused it.  Weren't you?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied.  "B'Elanna skipping breakfast is quiet common but she shouldn't do it now of all times."

"Meaning," B'Elanna and Tom inadvertently asked together before both blushing.  Owen Paris hid a chuckle – he had a feeling such things were bound to occur from time to time as a result of that telepathic link that now existed between his son and his daughter in law.  The Doctor didn't bat an eye.

"Meaning that you shouldn't skip meals lieutenant not in the condition your now in," the Doctor said before smiling theatrically.  "You're pregnant."  B'Elanna gasped and exchanged a shocked look with her husband.  Pregnant!  How could she be pregnant?  She'd only gone through her normal menstrual cycle a week ago?  She shouldn't be able to get pregnant yet.

"This is a joke right," B'Elanna asked.  "I mean I'm to early to be…"

"Ordinarily yes," the Doctor replied.  "But I can assure you that this is no joke."  To prove it he showed all three of them the bioreadings displayed on his tricorder.  "The embryo is about two weeks old however here's where it gets interesting.  According to my scan the embryo was only conceived forty-eight hours ago.  The child is growing at an unusually accelerated rate – at its current rate of growth the child will be born in approximately three months.  The accelerated growth is putting greater stress on your system than normal.  But it is not critical you'll just have to eat more often and not skip meals for any reason."

"How did this happen," Tom wanted to know.  "I mean we haven't…" The realisation dawned on both him and B'Elanna at the same time.  The joining/bonding thing they'd done two days ago had caused this as well as creating the mental bond between them.  It would fit and if the developing child had Taelon DNA in it as well as Human and Klingon DNA then it could explain the unusual growth rate.

"Lieutenant," the Doctor prompted.  Tom quickly explained a little bit about the joining though he knew very little about it.  Joining was just another new instinct he had as a result of becoming part Taelon.  "That might explain how this happened," the Doctor agreed.  "I will have to speak to Mit'gai and try and find out a little bit more about this joining thing."  He looked straight at Tom and B'Elanna.  "The question is what do you wish to do now.  As the child grows the strain it will put on B'Elanna's system will increase.  Maybe to a dangerous degree.  Do you want to go through with the pregnancy or would you like me to terminate it now."

"We'll go through with it," B'Elanna said knowing instantly what her husband's feelings on this matter were, she shared them.  "We've always wanted a family," she continued gently taking her husbands hand.  This time there was no advertent sharing since Tom knew how to block that from happening now.  "It's come a bit sooner than we thought it would," she went on.  "But we'll take the risk."

"Very well then.  I believe congratulations are in order."  Out of the corner of his eyes Tom noticed a smile abruptly cross his fathers face – a strange almost goofy smile.  _I think it's just occurred to him that he's going to be a grandfather,_ he thought, _God me a father who would have thought it.  But then who would have thought I would ever get married?  Who would have thought that I'd end up a hybrid again?  Certainly not me.  But thinking about it though I didn't want the last part I wouldn't change any of it.  Not now that I've gotten used to it all.  I wonder how the rest of the crew will react when they hear about it through the grapevine?_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen Four Days Later 

Captain's Log, Stardate 56388.2

The science team sent by Starfleet Command has informed me that the installation of the interdimensional drive has been completed and is fully operational.  Final preparations for our departure first thing in the morning are underway – the entire crew is egar to go home – even Seven seems egar to go.

Speaking for myself I find myself saddened at the thought of leaving Ya'sa'ra though I am egar to go home.  The Taelons and the hybrids – were still not exactly sure exactly to call them as we can hardly call them Human or Taelon since their a mix of the two – are such an interesting and still very mysterious group.  I could spend months or years here talking with them and learning about their culture – but now that a good diplomatic framework has been established I do not doubt that we will soon meet again.  Ambassador Vales has already told me that the Taelon ruling body the Synod is seriously considering the possibility of sending a diplomatic mission to the Federation.

I find myself hoping that they do decide to send a mission.  There are so many mysteries surrounding both the Taelons and the hybrids.  I have noticed that all the Humans on board seem to definitely have a bond with the Taelons especially – I have felt it myself, and I wonder could it have something to do with the history that we have forgotten.  The more I think about it the more intriguing the possibility seems.  Certainly a lot of history books are going to have to be rewritten.

And yet the consequences of this meeting with the Taelons also worries me.  I have nothing wrong to say about the Taelons or the hybrids – they've been kind, courteous and helpful, the perfect hosts.  No what is bothering me is the Jaridians.  I have a feeling that we are going to meet again and I feel that we had better be ready for them when we do meet again.  For somehow I doubt that the Jaridians are going to come in peace, even though we have no quarrel with them.

Captain Kathryn Janeway ended her log entry on that note.  Somehow she just knew that last part, something inside her screamed that the Jaridians were an enemy and would do their best to destroy them.  _Why do I feel that about the Jaridians,_ she thought.  From the moment she'd seen those Jaridian warships when they'd come out of ID space to do battle with the Taelons she'd known that they were an enemy that she should destroy before they destroyed her.  Just seeing their ships seemed to trigger some instinctive warning buried inside her.  Every other Human on the crew that she had spoken to had confessed the same feeling about the Jaridians.  Somehow every Human – even B'Elanna who was only half Human – on board seemed to know instinctively that the Jaridians were their enemies.  Interestingly though the non-Humans on the crew felt no instinctive feel of danger when they saw Jaridian ships.  _Could it have something to do with this bond we Humans feel to the Taelons,_ she thought, _could it be that just as we know that Taelons are friends instinctively we know the opposite about the Jaridians?  If that is the case then why is it like that._

The sharp bleep of the door chime jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Come in," she called out.  The ready room doors slid open and Tuvok came in carrying a pad.  "Yes Tuvok?"

"Captain all our departure preparations have been completed," Tuvok reported handing her the pad.  "Ambassador Vales and the team sent by Starfleet are on board and comfortable in there assigned guest quarters.  We can leave first thing in the morning."

"Excellent," Janeway said taking the pad and giving it a brief glance but not really seeing it.

"Captain may I make an observation," Tuvok ventured.  At her nod he continued.  "You seem to be distracted."  Janeway looked up at the dark skinned Vulcan who had been her friend and counsel for many years.

"You're right Tuvok I am," she admitted standing up and moving around her desk and up to the couch on the upper level of the ready room below the view windows and sitting down.  Tuvok followed.  "Please sit," she said.  Tuvok immediately obeyed.

"Tell me what is troubling you," Tuvok said knowing immediately from his captain's demeanour that she wished his counsel on something.

"Believe it or not it's the Taelons," Janeway began.  Tuvok raised an eyebrow.  "And about this strange bond that I feel towards them.  All the other Humans on board – even B'Elanna – and she's only half-Human – that I have spoken to confess the same feeling."

"Curious," Tuvok responded.

"You could say that.  And then there is the Jaridians.  From the moment those warships came out of interdimensional space I knew somehow that they were an enemy that I had to destroy before they destroyed me.  And that was before we even fired at each other.  It was like an instinctive warning, something buried deep inside."

"Perhaps it has something to do with this bond you say you feel to the Taelons and to the hybrids," Tuvok reasoned.  "And maybe it has something to do with the forgotten contact between Humans and Taelons that took place in the early twenty first century."

"That is what I was thinking," Janeway admitted.  "But this whole bond thing is strange to start with.  Tuvok the first time I ever saw a Taelon starship was eleven years ago when the _Da'shi'ri _intercepted the _Al-Batani_.  As soon as I saw it I – and every other Human onboard – knew somehow that the _Da'shi'ri _wouldn't harm us unless we hurt them first – even before Captain Ju'su hailed us we knew he wouldn't hurt us.  I know its illogical but we felt that way."

"Perhaps the Taelons can give you some answers," Tuvok reasoned.

"Perhaps," Janeway admitted.  "Maybe I should go over to the space station and see if I can speak to Da'an or maybe General Kincaid can give me some answers."

"That might be wise captain," Tuvok replied.  "The Taelons do have knowledge of that forgotten period in Human history, and from our conversation on the station when we first arrived here we know that General Kincaid was alive in that time.  Perhaps they can provide you with some of the answers to your questions."

"You know what Tuvok I think I will go back onto the station," she said decisively.  "Maybe then I won't be so bothered by this."

*****

A Few Minutes Later 

Captain Kathryn Janeway wandered down the corridors of the orbital station to which _Voyager_ was docked looking for someone who could either take her to Da'an or Liam.  There weren't many people around at such a late hour – apparently the hybrids needed to sleep just as much as full Humans did and she didn't know if the Taelons 'slept' as humanoids understood the term.

She had just found her way to one of the stations computer terminals and was trying to puzzle out how exactly to use it when one of her quarries found her.

"Kathryn," Liam Kincaid's voice said from behind her.  She spun round sure enough Liam Kincaid was standing behind her a curious expression on his handsome face.  "I am surprised to see you here I would have thought you would be busy preparing _Voyager_ for your flight home tomorrow."

"We've finished preparing Liam," Janeway replied.  "We will be ready to leave first thing in the morning."

"You got your ship ready in a seven hours," Liam exclaimed knowing from the reports submitted to him and Da'an by Tadoshi Nakamura and Su'ul that they'd only finished installing the interdimensional technology on _Voyager_ seven hours ago.  "I am impressed."

"We were very motivated," Kathryn replied with a smile.  "We've been stuck in this quadrant for seven years.  Now that its time to go home no one on the crew can wait, even Tuvok and Vorik – though being Vulcans they would strongly deny any implication that there feeling impatient to get home to their families."

"I don't know very much about Vulcans so I'll take your word for it," Liam replied.  "So why are you on the station now?"

"I have questions," she admitted.  "I am curious about this bond that me and other Humans feel to the Taelons.  And the threat we feel whenever we even see a Jaridian warship."

"I see," Liam said nodding his head.  "It is actually quiet complicated and standing in a corridor is not the best place to speak of such things.  Please come with me."

Having little choice in the matter – not if she wanted answers to her questions – Kathryn followed Liam through the corridors of the space station.  Even having been here for nearly two weeks now she still found the sight of so much organic technology amazing.  The Federation had been trying to develop organically-based technology for almost a century – the potential uses for such technology were myriad – but they hadn't been able to master it, the closest they'd come was the development of the bioneural gel packs that had first been introduced on Intrepid-class starships like _Voyager_ and on Sovereign-class starships like the _Enterprise_ but had now been retrofitted into the computer systems of all Federation ships.  Bioneural gel packs were a powerful technology but as organic technology went they were still very crude.  _Who knows maybe if we do end up forming an alliance with the Taelons their scientists and engineers might be willing to give us some pointers,_ she thought.

Liam led her through the interior of the space station for quiet some time.  She was careful to keep close to him as they had now moved into parts of the huge orbital facility that were unfamiliar to her.

Finally after walking for nearly ten minutes they came to one of the inset sections of bioslurry that marked the position of a door.  The plastic-like scanner panel beside it also helped to give it away.  Calmly Liam reached out his hand and placed it on the panel, which immediately glowed beneath his touch as was normal.  Then the bioslurry panel glowed brighter than its normal pale blue and simply vanished – which was something that Kathryn Janeway was certain she would never get used to.

"Come in," Liam said stepping into the room.  Janeway followed him in and immediately realised that the room had to be Liam's quarters.

One thing that immediately struck her was that the room was quiet spartan with little in the way of individual possessions and mementoes – she would have expected someone who was as old as Liam was to have many personal possessions.  The only personal things around that she could see were some antique books on a shelf and a couple of old-fashioned still photographs.

"Your wondering why my quarters are so spartan aren't you," Liam suddenly asked making her jump.

"Yes," Janeway admitted.  "I don't mean to criticise but I would have thought…"

"That considering my age I would have many more personal possessions," Liam finished for her.  "I do have Kathryn it's just they are not here.  These are only temporary quarters, as I am not normally based here at Ya'sa'ra – I am after all a senior commander in the Defence Force I am not normally assigned to outposts like this one.  The bulk of my personal possessions and mementoes are in my house on Tu'ru'sha – the Taelons new homeworld."

"Oh.  Were you reading my mind then Liam when you knew what I was going to ask."

"Good heavens no," Liam exclaimed sounded repulsed by the very notion.  "Though like all hybrids I am capable of telepathically scanning others I won't do so without permission.  None of us will.  We consider probing someone's mind without permission to be the height of impropriety."  He saw Janeway nodding.

"The Betazoids and Vulcans are exactly the same," she said as Liam closed the door behind them.

"I am not very familiar with the races in your quadrant of this galaxy," Liam admitted.  "I would like to be but this new war with the Jaridians has effectively put an end to most exploration and scientific missions.  I am not familiar with a race called Betazoids."

"There a telepathic humanoid race native to the planet Betazed," Janeway replied.  "All of them are telepathic from their mid teens onwards.  Physically their almost completely identical to Humans – there are some differences in organ function and brain structure, and Betazoid eyes don't have separately coloured irises – a Betazoid iris is the same colour as the pupil.  But other than that their genetically close enough to Humans to produce viable offspring without genetic resequencing of the child being needed – therefore hybrids of Human and Betazoid are quiet common."

"Ah I see.  Please sit."  Liam indicated some chairs in the living area.  Janeway took a seat as indicated and Liam sat down in the one immediately opposite her.  A small coffee table in between them.  "Would you like a drink," Liam asked – he always made it a point to be a good host.

"No thank you."

"Very well then.  Now you wanted to talk about the bond that exists between Humans and Taelons.  And the sense of threat you feel whenever you see a Jaridian ship."

"Yes."

"The Taelons have been aware of Humans for thousands of years.  They discovered Earth almost four and a half thousand years ago, little more than two generations ago by Taelon standards.  Almost immediately one of the Taelons greatest scientists Ma'el – who is incidentally Da'an's parent – suspected something was different about Humans – that they were not just another primitive race."

"Fascinating but what does this have to do with the bond?" Janeway asked confused.

"Patience Kathryn.  To understand the bond you must know about Ma'el."  Janeway nodded in reluctant agreement.  It wasn't as though she had much choice – not if she wanted to know.  Somehow she suspected the Liam Kincaid was as stubborn as she was.  If she wanted to learn about the bond then she was going to have to bear with him.

"Now where was I," Liam continued.  "Oh yeas.  Ma'el suspected that something was different about Humans as soon as he saw the data on Earth that the Taelon survey probe dispatched to the area had sent back.  He was curious enough that he decided to go on an expedition to Earth – little realising that he was about to embark on a journey that would alter the destiny's of both races."  Liam held up a hand to forestall the questions he could see forming on Janeway's lips.

"When he arrived on Earth," Liam continued, "Ma'el landed in Ireland and showed himself to a small group of locals.  Their reason being that he was going to use their reactions to him to determine how he would conduct his observations while on Earth."

"Let me guess they ran away from him or attacked him," Janeway said knowing from history how xenophobic Humans had once been.

"Actually they did neither.  Nor did they treat Ma'el like a god.  The Celts especially viewed Ma'el as a wise magician sent by the gods to teach them and protect them.  To the Celts Ma'el's technology looked like magic.  The fact that Ma'el used his 'magic' to help Humans whenever there was a problem – like a plague – helped to build a bridge of trust.  The only thing Ma'el wouldn't help with was war.  Ma'el – like all Taelons – could not understand why different members of the same species would fight each other.  Taelons – unlike most species – never fought each other not even in the dark days before the creation of the Commonality."

"Ma'el spent almost two thousand years on Earth," Liam continued.  "Going from country to country, civilisation to civilisation, observing, learning and teaching.  He came to love Humans – he saw even then that Humans had the potential to one day be a great race.  Ma'el's explorations led to the creation of the spiritual bond that exists between Humans and Taelons.  He also made a discovery that would later have a profound effect on both races."

"What?"

"Ma'el discovered that Humans and Taelons are genetically compatible with each other.  He discovered that each race held the key to answering a problem plaguing the other.  But that's a completely different story for another time."

"What about the Jaridians then," Janeway asked really wanting to know more about the relationship between Humans and Taelons – it sounded that it was going to be a fascinating story – but reluctantly agreeing to limit their conversation to her two original questions.

"That is also related to the bond," Liam explained.  "You see Kathryn the Taelons and Jaridians are genetic brethren.  They both evolved from the same ancient race – I should know the Kimera were there and saw it happen and I do have all the knowledge of the Kimera in my head.  The Taelons and Jaridians split off from each other when the Commonality was created.  Of the two the Jaridians are much more aggressive than the Taelons.  The Jaridians desire the conquest of as much of the universe as they can get their scaly hands on."

"So just as the bond tells us that the Taelons are friends so it also tells us that the Jaridians are enemies," Janeway reasoned.

"Yes," Liam replied.  "To the Jaridians other races are either slaves to be taken to serve them or enemies to be destroyed."

"So why have they allied themselves with the Delkari?"

"That we do not know," Liam admitted.  "Though it is very out of character for the Jaridians to ally with another race.  Unless it suits there purposes at the time.  The current thinking in intelligence circles is that the Jaridian High Command headed up by the Emperor decided that they could not defeat us alone.  So they sought out allies to use against us.  Not that it has helped them much the war between us is practically a stalemate."

"Have you tried to negotiate an end to the war," Janeway asked.

"We have they ignored us.  The only conclusion we can draw is that the Jaridian High Command is not interested in peace.  Jaridia is ruled by its military, which is headed by the Emperor.  Military dictatorships thrive on conflict."

"True," Janeway admitted thinking of the Cardassian Empire when it had been dominated by the Central Command, the Cardassian military had constantly worked to gain strategic advantage over the Federation even after they'd been defeated in the Boarder Wars.  They'd resented the fact that the Federation was so much more powerful than Cardassia.  The Cardassian military had viewed diplomacy as a weakness they'd only agreed to peace with the Federation for the alternative of all out war would have led to Cardassia being defeated and destroyed.  "I hope the Jaridians leave us alone," she said.  "We've been through enough war recently."

"As I said to Admiral Paris it is highly unlikely that the Jaridians will attack you," Liam replied.  "They might be bold and arrogant but they are not stupid.  They know how dangerous it is to fight a war on two fronts.  It is highly unlikely that they will attack you but it is a possibility."

"I hope it remains just a possibility," Janeway replied.  "I should get back to _Voyager_."

"Yes you should get a good nights rest before your flight home tomorrow," Liam said standing up.  "Allow me to escort you back."

"Alright then," Janeway said standing up herself.  Though she wouldn't admit it she enjoyed this kind of thing especially in the company of someone she liked.  And she did like Liam, she liked him a lot.

"Shall we go," Liam said inclining his head at the door.  Janeway nodded and with that they left Liam's quarters for the airlock where _Voyager_ was docked.

*****

Captain's Quarters A Short Time Later 

Kathryn Janeway lay on her bed in her quarters on _Voyager_.  Her conversation with Liam still playing over and over in her mind.  He had answered her question about the bond and about the Jaridians but in doing so had raised yet more questions.  Just how deep did the relationship between Humans and Taelons go.  What was it that Ma'el had discovered on Earth so long ago that could have been so important to both their races?  She supposed that those were answers that would only come in time and in many more conversations.  Hopefully she would get to have those conversations – if the Taelons did indeed send a diplomatic mission to Earth.

After a couple of more minutes of silently mulling over the various questions she had about the relationship between Humans and Taelons she put them out of her mind and rolled over the soft fabric of her pink satin nightgown making a swishing noise against her bed sheets.  Tomorrow was going to be an important day.  Tomorrow they were going home, at last.

Within a few more minutes she was fast asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen Next Morning 

Captain Kathryn Janeway took a deep breath as the turbolift approached the bridge.  In a few more hours _Voyager_ would be in Earth orbit once more – if all went well.  A palpable air of excitement pervaded the entire ship as the time of departure neared.

The turbolift doors opened and she stepped out onto the bridge.  To her complete lack of surprise everyone was at his or her stations already.  There was a slight difference on the bridge though in that both Dr Brahms and Lieutenant Commander LaForge were on the bridge over by the main engineering station waiting to monitor the interdimensional drive once it was activated.  Down in engineering B'Elanna would be keeping an eye on the EPS system making sure that they didn't suffer any unexpected overloads – since the entire EPS system would be under much more strain than normal once the ID drive was activated.

"Chakotay are we ready to go," Janeway asked moving down to her command chair.

"Aye captain," Chakotay replied.  "All systems are operational.  We can leave as soon as the orbital station releases the birthing field and gives us departure clearance."

"Harry hail the station," Janeway ordered.  "And request permission to depart."

"Aye captain."  For a second there was a pause.  "The Taelons have granted us departure clearance.  They are deactivating the birthing field."

"Clear all moorings," Chakotay ordered.  "And bring impulse engines on line."

"All moorings are clear," Lieutenant Commander LaForge said from the engineering bay.  "Impulse engines are on line."

"Tom take us out one quarter impulse power," Janeway ordered.

"Aye captain," Tom replied as his knowledgeable hands danced across his console.  With the faintest of shivers _Voyager_ gently broke away from the space station orbiting Ya'sa'ra with small puffs from her ion manoeuvring thrusters.  Then the impulse engines came on and _Voyager_ rapidly accelerated until she was clear of the orbital station.

"Set course for home," Janeway ordered.

"Course already plotted captain," Tom replied with a smile he knew off by heart already what his captain's order was going to be.  She'd given it to him enough times in the past.  Janeway turned to where Lt Commander LaForge and Doctor Brahms were waiting at the engineering station.

"Bring the interdimensional drive on line."  For a good couple of minutes the two busied themselves over the controls.  Then there was a humm of power through the ship as the interdimensional drive came on line.

"ID drives on line," Geordie reported.

"Tom take us home," Janeway ordered.

"Aye captain," Tom said with a smile as he pressed the controls on his console.  For a second nothing happened other than an up scaling whine that could be heard throughout the ship, then with a jolt _Voyager_ jumped into interdimensional space.  The whine died back down to the normal background humming of the ships systems as _Voyager_ hurtled down a tunnel of shimmering, multicoloured light at speed that until just two weeks ago would have been unthinkable for a Federation ship.

*****

Observation Deck 

**Ya'sa'ra Orbital Station**

Da'an and Liam Kincaid stood alone on the observation deck of the orbital station watching as _Voyager_ pulled clear of the station, hovered in space for a few minutes then went interdimensional.

(They are finally on their way home,) Da'an said telepathically to Liam.  (I am pleased that we were able to help them.)

(As am I,) Liam replied.  (Has the Synod reached a decision on whether to go to Earth again yet or not.)

(Not yet.  I hope that they do.  I would so like to see Earth again.)  Liam smiled slightly at the wistfulness in his old friend and mentors mental voice.  Da'an had always loved Earth.  Its beauty had never been lost upon him.  Liam remembered frequently Da'an standing before the virtual glass windows in the Washington DC embassy just watching the city outside, sometimes he'd be watching the people, sometimes he'd been watching the weather, and other times he would just be admiring the view out over the city.  Of course these days Washington probably wasn't like what it used to be.  The Washington DC they'd known had been one of the first cities to be blown off the face of the Earth in the nuclear holocaust of the Third World War.

(Do not worry Da'an,) Liam assured his friend softly.  (The doorway between the Human and Taelon worlds has been opened once again.  And this time it will never be closed.  Now both races are ready for an equal relationship.)  Da'an looked curiously at the Kimera hybrid standing next to him.

(How can you be sure my friend,) Da'an asked his protégé not really expecting an answer.  Liam could be very mysterious sometimes.  It was due to his Kimera heritage combined with the mystical edge he'd inherited from his mother Siobhan Beckett.

(I feel it Da'an.  This meeting was fated to happen Da'an.  The circle has closed it is now time for Humans and Taelons to meet again and go foreword together – as equals.)  Da'an nodded and didn't ask Liam to elaborate on his feeling.  Over the centuries Da'an had learned to trust Liam's instincts – he had never really known them to be wrong.

(We should get back to work Liam,) he said finally.  Liam looked one last time at the empty space where _Voyager_ had been.

(Yes Da'an we should,) he said finally.  With that the two old friends left the observations deck to return to their duties.

*****

U.S.S _Voyager_ Four Hours Later 

Cheers resounded around _Voyager's_ bridge as they dropped out of interdimensional space to the sight of Earth filling the view screen.  Discipline broke down but for once Tuvok paid it no mind as bridge crewmembers laughed, shook hands and hugged each other.  Similar scenes were being played out throughout the ship as crewmembers saw Earth on their monitors or through view ports for the first time in years and for Neelix the first time in his life.

Finally after a few moments the euphoria of finally being home wore off and the crew pulled themselves back together.  Then a faint hint of sadness gripped the crew for they all suddenly realised that this last flight into space dock was probably the last time they would all be together.

Up on the bridge the incoming signal chirp sounded from the operations console.

"We are being hailed by Starfleet Command captain," Harry Kim reported.

"On screen," Janeway ordered straightening up in her chair slightly.  Beside her Chakotay did the same in the first officers seat.  The view screen changed and pulled in the image of Admiral Alynna Nechayev – now advanced to head of Starfleet Command – appeared on the screen.  From the looks of it she was in the – recently rebuilt – main Starfleet control room in San Francisco.

"Captain Janeway quiet a theatrical way to arrive," Admiral Nechayev said softly.  "Welcome home."

"Thank you admiral," Janeway said.

"Tell me why do you have a very big hole in your primary hull?"

"It will all be in my report sir."  Admiral Nechayev smiled slightly.

"I look forward to reading it," she answered.  "In the meantime proceed to the main orbital fleet docking facility."  On the screen Nechayev nodded to someone not in line with the screen.  "I will contact you're families and the president to inform them of your return.  Once more welcome home _Voyager_.  Welcome home."  With that Admiral Nechayev disappeared from the screen just as the turbolift doors opened and Admiral Paris accompanied by the Doctor, Lieutenant Torres and Neelix came onto the bridge.

"Tom you heard Admiral Nechayev put us on course for the main fleet docking facility," Janeway ordered.

"Aye captain," Tom responded engaging the impulse engines.  As they moved towards one of eight massive space stations orbiting Earth nearly a dozen starships fell into escort formation around them forming a guard of honour for _Voyager's_ short flight into the space station.

As the space station grew larger and larger on the view screen until it completely dominated space ahead of them Janeway leaned back in her chair and smiled.  Chakotay sitting beside her put his hand on hers.

"Well Kathryn," he said softly.  "You did it."  Janeway smiled slightly and looked over at the big Indian who had been her rock for the last seven years.

"No Chakotay," she replied equally softly squeezing his hand gently.  "We did it.  We got our crew home."  Chakotay did smile at that and gave her hand a squeeze back in return.  Then they settled back to watch as _Voyager_ passed through the massive space doors into the interior of the immense space station.  It was good to be home.

That's the end of this particular story.  The story continues in When Worlds Collide 2 coming soon. 


End file.
